Polarity
by koalababay
Summary: “If I knew that this would’ve been your reaction when you found out that Mr. Strife was your partner...well, I would have told you sooner.” Poor Yuffie is partnered with Cloud on a WRO mission. But she wonders if that really is such a bad thing. Clouffie
1. Mission Time!

_**Polarity**_

_1: Mission Time!_

Yuffie Kisaragi, _The Single White Rose of Wutai_, is many things.

She is patient and kind - the majority of the time, at least.

She is super strong - especially when fighting gross monsters and the ultimate baddies like the silver-haired weirdos and those creepy Deepground people.

She is awesome at pickpocketing innocent bystanders and an even more fabulous at being a hardcore ninja.

She has really good friends and _is _a good friend.

She never backs down from a challenge, whether the competition is who can eat the most hot dogs in five minutes, or who can make Rufus really annoyed in less than _one _minute.

Those cool adjectives and scenarios are just a _few _aspects of the multifaceted personality of Yuffie Kisaragi.

But right now…Yuffie was not showing her bright and beautiful side.

Quite the contrary, actually.

"REEEEEEVE! I AM NOT GOING!! THIS WOULD BE THE _SIXTH _MISSION THIS MONTH!" Yuffie screamed as she jumped on top of Reeve Tuesti's desk in her attempt to strangle the innocent WRO leader. "I'M SICK OF THIS! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO!"

Reeve cleared his throat as he tried to calmly detach Yuffie's vice-like grip on his tie. He wished that his hands weren't shaking slightly, though. Tiny as she was, Yuffie Kisaragi had the tendency to make him really apprehensive sometimes. He never knew when she was going to strike. "Yuffie, please calm down-"

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" Yuffie interrupted, tightening her grip on his tie threateningly. "What are you going to do about it, anyway? Nyuk nyuk nyuk." Her infamous smirk appeared on her face. "You gonna call Cait Sith in here like last time?"

The WRO leader sighed, ignoring her last comment and willing himself not to roll his eyes at the overdramatic ninja. "Well, to start, you could actually allow me to finish more than one sentence."

Yuffie huffed indignantly, slowly releasing Reeve's purple and blue polka-dotted tie from her hold. She did not, however, move an inch from her spot on his desk. She was actually still hovering over him like a lion ready to pounce on an cute little lamb. "Go right ahead then, _boss_."

Reeve sighed again. "Yuffie, the mission I am asking you to undertake is actually not that complicated. I don't understand why you're so upset about it."

Yuffie's cheeks reddened in her anger. "I'm angry because I _love_ to work _alone_, but you're probably going to send me with a partner again, am I right? Even after _you _said yourself that it wouldn't be that hard."

Reeve nodded.

"You don't trust me to do anything by myself! I'm the friggin MASTER of intelligence and espionage, Reevey! I can do _everything_…and then some! By MYSELF!" She adjusted her position on his desk by leaning back to sit, Indian-style. "What's worse is that the stupid partner for this mission is probably going to be _Reno _again, right?"

Reeve shook his head.

"See!? That's what makes me so ang---wait, what!?" Yuffie blinked in confusion. "If Reno's not gonna be my partner…then who is?"

A shadow of a smile appeared on Reeve's face. "Well…Cloud Strife, of course."

"WHAT!?" Unfortunately for Yuffie, her sudden exclamation caused her to lose her balance on Reeve Tuesti's desk, and she tumbled to the floor in a heap of ninja limbs. "Ouch…that hurt more than I was expecting it to…"

Reeve chuckled to himself. "If I knew that this would've been your reaction when you found out that Mr. Strife was your partner…well, I would have told you sooner, Yuffie." He smirked, absentmindedly scratching his goatee as Yuffie cursed him in Wutainese from her position on the not-so-comfy floor.

**XxXxX**

"Cloud, wait! Where are you going?" Tifa was walking down the stairs when Cloud turned around to face her. "You just got back yesterday."

"Reeve called. He said something about another mission," the blonde mercenary explained calmly. "I don't know how long I'll be gone this time."

Tifa clasped her hands together as she dropped her gaze to the floor. "Okay. Well…promise to call every now and then? To check in, I mean. Denzel loves hearing about everything you do on your jobs," Tifa said. "He…we are going to miss you, Cloud. Stay safe, okay?"

Cloud nodded once before he turned around again to leave Seventh Heaven.

As he mounted Fenrir, strapping his sword in the correct holster and carefully donning his goggles, he silently wondered why Tifa worried about him so much. He could take care of himself. He thought that he had already proved that fact…after everything that had happened in the past several years.

_Sephiroth…Kadaj…Deepground…_

Cloud shook his head a few times to clear his jumbled thoughts. The numerous battles that he has participated in always seemed to come back to haunt him at the most inopportune of moments.

Like when he is riding a motorcycle. For example.

Cloud shook his head again, leaning his body slightly to the side as he took a sharp turn.

Reeve sounded a little off when he was speaking of the mission, Cloud suddenly remembered. Could there be something more to it than he thought? But even if there was…what could it be?

Cloud sighed. He didn't really care all that much, anyway. He'll find out soon enough. He was heading straight for the WRO headquarters for a quick debrief on the mission before he left again. Then, he will find out everything that he needed to know.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

**XxXxX**

"He's on his way right now!?" Yuffie had only _just _regained her composure before Reeve had been so kind as to share this newest bit of information with her. "Dammit, Reeve. Does that mean I have to leave for the mission as soon as he gets here? I didn't even get a chance to-"

"Your knapsack is already packed with items, and your weapons are cleaned and at the ready, Miss Kisaragi," Reeve stated, a business-like tone in his voice.

Yuffie suddenly thought about something really important. "But what about-"

"Yes, Yuffie. The materia is all accounted for as well," he cut her off with a sly smile. "Now you can't possibly find a way to stall," he added with a small chuckle.

"Why do you find this so funny?" Yuffie demanded, stomping her foot on the floor like a little child whining about getting something precious taken away from her. "I never even agreed to going, remember? Nyuk nyuk. Cloud being my partner doesn't change anything!"

"Oh…well, judging by the look on your face when I told you he was your partner, I had assumed things _had _changed," Reeve thought aloud with a pensive look on his face. "Ah, well. Maybe when he gets here, you'll change your mind."

"Doubt it," Yuffie muttered under her breath, but she couldn't help but wonder as well. The more she thought about it…the more this mission didn't seem _that _bad.

Reason number one: there was _no _Reno!

Reason number two: she was going to be working with Cloud - he was _way _better than Reno, even if he did have weird chocobo hair.

Reason number three: this could be the mission that she actually ends up showing her true value to Reeve and the WRO - she'd never need a partner again!

"Nyuk nyuk nyuk…"

"Plotting something to yourself again?" Reeve asked. "You have that look on your face again, dear." He shook his head as he fixed his tie, returning his attention to the work in front of him - Yuffie had managed to mess up the portfolios and reports that he had taken such a long time of organizing on his desk.

He face-palmed.

"What's wrong, Reevey? Are you mad at me or something?" Yuffie asked, an innocent smirk on her face.

"No, Yuffie. I was just thinking about all the work I still have to finish," he sighed. "I may be here all night."

Yuffie crossed her arms. "Well, you deserve it for not letting me go on this mission alone, ya know!"

Reeve laughed, leaning back on his chair as he observed Yuffie. "So that means you've agreed to going on the mission now? I knew you'd come around."

Yuffie's eyes widened. "Wait…I never said---REEVE!" She charged forward, and just as she was about to pounce on top of her unsuspecting prey, Reeve's office door opened with a loud creak and someone cleared their throat.

**XxXxX**

"Am I…interrupting something?" Cloud Strife entered Reeve's office, calmly shutting the door behind him.

Yuffie screamed, _"Yes!" _just as Reeve quickly said, _"No."_

Cloud quirked a brow and took a few steps closer to the two former members of Avalanche. "I'm here for the mission debrief, Reeve."

"Yes, of course," Reeve said as he slowly stood up from his comfortable office chair. "Thank you again for agreeing to do this mission. And you're right on time, Cloud. As always."

Cloud crossed his arms, glancing between the ninja and the WRO leader. Yuffie looked really pissed off about something, and Reeve looked…worried…and a bit nervous. Was Cloud imagining that?

"Well, Cloud, I suppose I should start by saying that you are actually going to be accompanied on this mission," Reeve explained, his face dead serious.

"What?" Cloud asked, uncrossing his arms. "I work alone."

"That's what I said, too!" Yuffie interjected angrily, giving Reeve an evil glare. "_I _work alone!"

Cloud's brow furrowed as he spared the upset ninja a glance. "…what do you have to do with this, Yuffie?"

Yuffie opened her mouth to say something, but Reeve cut her off. "She's your partner. I have assigned the both of you to carry out this mission for the WRO. I hope that's alright with you."

Cloud glanced at Yuffie again - she was still staring at Reeve with a glare that could make even the toughest of warriors run away crying - before looking back at Reeve. "Whatever. I don't have a problem with it. Just give us the debrief," he said.

Yuffie's jaw dropped. "You mean…you don't care that you have to work with me? You said you liked to work alone!" Cloud noticed that she looked _really _surprised. Was it honestly that surprising for him to agree to something like this?

"Why would it matter now, anyway?" Cloud countered calmly. "He obviously picked you to work with me for a reason."

Yuffie blushed as she broke eye contact with him.

"You're right, Cloud," Reeve added with a nod. "This mission that I will be sending you two on…it will require both stealth and brute strength. You both possess qualities that I believe would complement each other quite nicely on the job, actually." He paused for a moment, letting the two Avalanchers soak in his compliment. He chuckled. "The ninja and the warrior. I think I like the sound of that." He paused again, this time for an even longer period of time.

"Okay, so get to the point!" Yuffie groaned after Reeve's brief pause turned into an awkward silence. "Tell us where the hell we're going and what we're going to be doing," she demanded.

Cloud spared her another glance, obviously impressed by the way the ninja never lost her ability to say what was on her mind, regardless of the situation. On their journey to defeat Sephiroth…he had always admired that quality in her. She would be the first one to say what was on _everybody's _mind when no one else would have the gall to actually say it out loud.

And the more he thought about it, the more Cloud realized that Yuffie really hadn't changed all that much in the past five years. He remembered meeting her as a scrawny sixteen year old girl with a huge and deadly weapon, and an even bigger mouth to boot.

She still had that dangerous weapon, he was sure. And she definitely still had that mouth of hers.

The only difference now, he thought…was that she didn't _look _like a girl anymore, even if she sometimes acted like it. She was…twenty-one years old. A woman. It was obvious that her features had a softer, more toned look to them. Even her posture had a more confident and mature aura about it.

Cloud shook his head to clear his mixed up thoughts. "Yeah, Reeve. You said this mission was going to be simple," he said. "Go ahead and explain the specifics."

Reeve sighed, scratching his goatee again. "Yes, well…alright." He turned around to take a seat in his comfy chair again. It was very tiring dealing with an emotionless warrior and a feisty ninja princess all at the same time. "You two will be going to Dera, the newly established city a couple hundred miles east of Junon. It's actually the halfway marker between Junon and Fort Condor-"

"Enough with the frickin' geography lesson, you nerd," Yuffie interrupted, brushing her bangs away from her face. "Get to the point!"

"My apologies," Reeve said with a hint of a smile on his face. "In Dera, there is rumored to be incredibly high numbers of monsters attacking innocent citizens. What's worse is that those monsters…are being controlled by someone."

"Interesting." Yuffie rubbed her chin in thought before her eyes brightened. She pumped her fist into the air in excitement. "This should actually be fun! This mission is _way _better than all those stupid ones you send me and Reno on, Reevey," she commented.

Reeve couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes that time, and so he did. "You _do _realize that while you are gone, you will be representing the WRO and everything it stands for, correct? The World Regenesis Organization has a primary objective of protecting the planet and the people living on it from any harm or danger that-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Yuffie yawned, waving her hand at Reeve like she was swatting away an incessant fly. "You give that same crappy speech before every single mission. We've heard it all before. Protect, heal, blah, blah, blah. We get it! We'll be sure to not make you look bad when we're out there, Reevey-boy!" Yuffie was already heading towards Reeve's office door.

"Wait, Yuffie!" Reeve tried to say something else, but Yuffie waved him away with a devious giggle before disappearing from sight. Reeve sighed, turning to the blonde warrior. "Here, Cloud. I was going to give her the map of the location, but since she doesn't seem to care right now…"

"I'll hold onto it," Cloud said, reaching his hand out to take the folded paper from Reeve's hands. "Thanks, Reeve."

"My pleasure," Reeve replied.

Cloud turned to go.

"And, Cloud?" Reeve said, standing up just as Cloud reached the door. The mercenary turned around to face the WRO leader with a questioning stare. "Thanks again for doing this. I know you still have your delivery service and everything else…but, uh…it's nice of you to join and help the WRO's cause every now and then, as well," Reeve said with a smile.

"No problem," Cloud murmured before walking out the door.

Left with no one else in the room, Reeve sighed and took a seat. "What a day," he muttered to himself. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Pulling out his PHS, he dialed the number that he had grown very accustomed to calling these past two years.

He smiled when he heard the voice on the other line.

"It's me---Yes, I just gave the two of them the mission debrief---Uh huh." Reeve spun around in his chair a few times as he nodded. He stopped suddenly. "Well, of course I gave them the map! I would never forget something as important as that---That was only one time!---Yes, I know. I'm at the WRO for a reason, you know---Oh, yes! I am sure they'll be fine. This mission shouldn't actually be that hard for anyone to take care of, _especially _those two---There was something else I was meaning to ask. You know everything went fine on this end, but how about over there? Did you play the innocent-loving-and-questioning friend card well?---Good! And he didn't suspect a thing?---Great!…Oh, and we're still on for dinner tomorrow night, right?" Reeve waited patiently for an answer, his right leg slightly twitching. He nearly jumped for joy when the answer he received was in the affirmative.

"Great. I will see you then. Goodbye, Tifa." He placed his PHS back in his pocket with a contented sigh.

Reeve's heart felt lighter than it had felt…well, since the last time he had talked to Tifa.

**XxXxX**

**A/N: **This idea randomly popped into my mind today while I was working on the next chapter of my Reffie story. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this yet … so some reviews would be LOVELY!! XD

If I did continue (which is looking highly probable), it would be an eventual Clouffie with a tad bit of Reeve/Tifa on the side. So, if you don't like the pairing(s) too much…um…well, don't read I guess? *shrugs*

Well, okeydokey! Press the review button and tell me what you thought! I'm _**dying**_ for some feedback here!!!! Tell me you want me to continue this and I will! You just gotta review first. ;D


	2. Getting REacquainted

_**Polarity**_

_Definition_: the quality or inherent condition in a body that shows contrasting properties or powers with contrasting parts or directions of another body

_In other words_: polar opposition

_2: Getting RE-acquainted_

Yuffie swallowed the huge lump that had risen in her throat at Cloud's last words. "We have to ride Fenrir there?…Are you…_kidding_, you big jerk?" She readjusted her bandana, trying hard not to look him in his cool mako eyes. "You know for a fact that I get really really _really _bad motion sickness, Spiky!"

She heard Cloud sigh.

"You'll be fine, Yuffie," he said as they walked through the huge WRO entrance doors. "And don't call me that." He turned to face her for a brief second. "…you have everything you need, right? I don't want to have to turn around after we leave Edge."

Yuffie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance. "The Great Ninja Yuffie never forgets a thing, ya grump! So stop worrying about it. That's like the third time you've asked me that question, too. Nyuk."

Cloud shook his head slowly with another sigh. "I was just making sure, Yuffie."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Where'd you park your oversized bike, anyway?" Yuffie placed her hands under her bangs to act as a visor to block the bright sun. "I don't see it anywhere."

Cloud kept walking without replying to Yuffie, so she was forced to follow - or in her case, _run _to keep up with the ex-Soldier - and eventually find out where it was once they got to it.

In her inner monologue, Yuffie wondered why _Cloud _was chosen to go on this mission with her. He wasn't even technically part of the WRO! He just helped out from time to time. So couldn't Reeve have chosen someone else for her to work with…like…oh, Vincent Valentine, perhaps? Or maybe even Cid Highwind? - Yuffie would never ever admit to being somewhat partial to the raucous pilot, so keep that part on the down-low, please.

Anyway…maybe then, in those instances, she wouldn't have had to do _all _the talking.

Well, with Vincent, it probably would've been the same with the whole talking thing…if not worse. But still! That wasn't really the point, anyway.

Wait…what would probably have been the best alternative to having Cloud as a partner…would be to work ALONE! Yuffie sighed, silently wishing that Reeve wasn't her boss, even though he _did _help her with really cool pranks every now and then.

"It's just around this corner, Yuffie," Cloud's voice drifted into her thoughts, successfully snapping her out of her sun-induced daze. "Yuffie?"

"Huh?" She shook her head a few times, re-crossing her arms again. "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say."

Sure enough, right as Cloud and Yuffie turned the next corner, there was his Fenrir, shining in all its glory. Well, it actually may have been shining beautifully because metal gets really hot when it's in the sun for too long, but whatever. Yuffie may not have liked _riding _it, but that didn't mean she couldn't _admire _it.

"Yuffie, are you alright?" Cloud's voice drifted into her thoughts again. "You've been…quiet."

"Well, geez. Try saying that without looking so damn surprised, Chocobo-head!" Yuffie shot back angrily. "Pfft, why'd you park this thing so far away, anyway? Were you worried that someone was going to steal it or something?" she asked, trying to take the attention from her and place it back on him.

Cloud murmured something inaudible under his breath.

"Ah, Cloudy's paranoid about his precious bikey-wikey!" Yuffie teased, snickering at the apparent soft spot that she had just discovered. _"My precious…" _she wheezed out in a creepy voice.

Cloud turned to face her with a serious look on his face. "Yuffie, stop."

She sighed. "Okeydokey! But only because you asked nicely, Chocobo-butt," she said in her normal voice.

"Don't call me that," he said as he busied himself with getting his motorcycle ready for the trip. He probably wasn't expecting to have a second passenger on it with him, so he had to adjust a few things, Yuffie figured.

After a few more minutes, Cloud faced her with a quick nod. "You ready?"

Yuffie gulped again, suddenly remembering the _many _reasons for her to not want to go on this stupid mission. But - _gulp _- it was her job, Reeve was her boss, Cloud was staring at her expectantly, and - frick! - she _had _to go.

_Dammit…_

"Yeah, just let me do my pre-deathtrap stretches real quick," Yuffie quickly stated as she turned around. Before she even took two steps, though, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Yuffie…"

"What!?" She whirled around to glare at Cloud, leaning forward on her tippy-toes so she could look a bit more intimidating. "Don't get mad at me for not wanting to ride that stupid thing!" She crossed her arms again after motioning towards his back in over-exaggeration. "You don't _want _to get puke all over yourself, do you!? Because if you do…that's…well, that would be really weird, actually."

Cloud sighed. "You're not going to get sick."

"How do you know?" Yuffie demanded, standing back down on the regular part of her feet again. "I _always _get sick…" her tone was gradually becoming a bit softer. And more pensive.

Cloud seemed surprised. "Just close your eyes," he stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Close my eyes?" Yuffie thought aloud. "Hmm…" For some reason, she knew she could trust Cloud. Didn't he tell her a few years ago that he used to get motion sickness all the time? He probably wouldn't be riding a motorcycle if he still had that same problem. Right? "Okay, fine. But if I still get sick, it'll be all _your _fault."

"That's fine," Cloud stated calmly as he mounted Fenrir. "Let's just go. We're already behind schedule."

"Pushy, pushy," Yuffie muttered as she hopped on behind Cloud. "Don't make me regret this, Spiky."

Cloud sighed again. "…don't call me that, Yuffie."

The young ninja sniggered as she scooted closer to Cloud.

"And hold on tight," he warned before revving the engine and taking off.

The force of the bike was so strong that Yuffie was nearly thrown off the back of it. That would not have been a pretty sight. A ninja pancake.

_Yuck._

To save herself, she had thankfully used her quick ninja reflexes to wrap her arms around Cloud's torso. "CLOUD, YOU _JERK_! I ALMOST DIED!"

She felt Cloud's shoulders shake…and came to the sudden realization that he was _laughing _at her. "That is _so _not funny! You could've at least given me a little warning!" When was the last time she heard Cloud laugh? She wondered…

Cloud looked over his shoulder at her for a second. "I told you to hold on tight." He wasn't laughing anymore.

"Hey, hey, hey!!" Yuffie screeched, slamming her eyes shut and burying her face into Cloud's back. "Watch the road, stupid. It's not like I have a deathwish or something today!"

Cloud shook his head slowly, but aimed his gaze at the road in front of him like she asked him to. "We're not going to crash, Yuffie."

She let out a heavy breath. "Just drive, Cloud. Don't get distracted! We could crash into a tree or some poor land animal and die an awful, fiery death! NO THANK YOU!"

"Yuffie, I've had Fenrir for-"

"I-really-don't-care!" Yuffie squealed, holding on tighter to Cloud - if that was even possible. She still had her eyes closed…and she hadn't even had the smallest sign of motion sickness yet. _What the heck? _Did Cloud's advice actually work?

She let out another sigh and smiled. Cloud really hadn't changed all that much since the day she'd met him. He was still the strong and silent type. He was still a great leader and a great friend. And he was still super sexy. Even with that obnoxious chocobo hair.

…

_WHAT DID I JUST THINK!?_

She must've suddenly shifted around behind Cloud because she heard him ask if she was alright. _Stupidstupidstupidchocobohair-_"I'm fine. Just drive a little smoother, will ya!?" She cleverly blamed her sudden jerky movement on his "erratic" driving. _Nyuk._

She shook her head a few times. Yuffie hadn't seen Cloud since Tifa's Avalanche get-together…nearly six months ago. And even then, she only saw him for a few minutes. She didn't even get a chance to talk to him!

Now, being alone with him for an extended period of time, Yuffie remembered why it sometimes got hard for her on their journey to beat Sephiroth. It was all coming back to her now.

She was the immature, kleptomaniac _child_, and he was the mature, responsible, kindhearted _adult_…who would never look at her as more than a friend.

She knew it…and yet…that never stopped her from having a huge crush on him back then.

Yuffie even went as far as taking him - _forcing him to go _- on a date with her at the Gold Saucer five years ago. She blushed when she remembered that she was even stupid enough to plant a wet one on his cheek.

_I still can't believe he let me do that. _Cloud had both Tifa and Aerith vying for his attention - _at the same frickin' time! _- but he always seemed totally unfazed by it. Could it be that…he never liked either of those women…in that way?

Sometimes Yuffie wondered…

She mentally slapped herself for caring. Why was she thinking about all this stuff? And since when did she care?

Since…_never_! That's when.

Yuffie yawned as she felt a wave of drowsiness suddenly washed over her.

_Stupid…spikyheaded jerk…_

**XxXxX**

When an entire hour had passed without Yuffie teasing, gloating, voicing her thoughts, or even _moving_, Cloud assumed that she had fallen asleep. Her breathing was steady and slow, so she had probably lost consciousness about a half hour after enduring his _erratic _driving skills.

Cloud shook his head. It was funny how after not seeing or talking to Yuffie for a very long period of time…they could still pick up where they left off. Wherever that was.

Oh, yes. He remembered now. She would tease, he would tell her to stop, she would complain about everything, he would tell her to stop again, they would both fight, and eventually they would cave in before they apologized under their breath. That sounded about right.

Cloud smirked as a blur of Billy's Chocobo Farm whizzed past.

They were making great time.

**XxXxX**

"Yo…Reeve…you gotta be kiddin' me, man!" Reno whistled after he heard the latest news from the WRO leader. "You know they're going to kill each other in a matter of hours, right?"

Reeve sighed, willing himself not to program Cait Sith to stalk Reno for the rest of his - _hopefully _- short life. "No, they won't. Yuffie can be annoying at times…but for all of our sakes, I can only assume that Cloud has more patience than you do, Reno. We need both of them for this mission."

"I mean, Strife is probably gonna Omnislash her sorry ass from here all the way to Wutai…if he hasn't already done it, that is," Reno went on, tapping his chin in thought. He didn't even pretend to notice that Reeve had said anything a moment ago. "Hell, that's what _I _would do if I had that kickass sword. Oh, don't tell him I said I liked his sword," he added as an afterthought.

Reeve rolled his eyes, ignoring Reno's last statement. "You say that Cloud would "Omnislash" her…and yet…I know you couldn't hold your own in a legitimate fight against Miss Kisaragi for more than five minutes."

Reno heard him that time. "WHAT? You're joking with me, Reeve."

"No, I assure you I am not," Reeve replied with a smirk. He stood up to gather all the paperwork from his desk. Walking towards his office door, he paused to give Reno an amused smirk. "Yuffie told me about when you both got sidetracked on the mission in Kalm, Reno. But don't worry. I promise I won't say anything." Reeve exited his office, leaving Reno standing there silently fuming.

"Kisaragi did _not _beat me!" the redheaded Turk shouted as he chased after Reeve. "I wasn't feeling good that day, man! You gotta believe me! She probably slipped some weird ninja crap in my drink before we got around to sparring!"

Reeve pretended to ignore the Turk, smirking to himself all the while.

**XxXxX**

**A/N: **There's chapter two for ya. =]

I'm in a bit of a pickle because I'm perfectly comfortable with writing Yuffie's character, but when it comes to Cloud … well, heck I have no idea if he's even IC.

So, please press that REVIEW button tell me what you thought of this. Please? XD


	3. Quite the Pair

_3: Quite the Pair_

Yuffie was confused. Her pillow was moving from right underneath her face! But pillows aren't supposed to move, right? "Stay where you are, Mr. Pillow," she murmured, wrapping her arms around her pillow even more tightly than they were before and snuggling close so it couldn't get away from her.

"…Yuffie?"

"Pillows don't talk," she yawned. "Nyuk…"

"You're right. They don't."

"So then…why are you talking?" she asked her pillow, rubbing her face against it, yet refusing to open her eyes and accept the fate that she probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep again. She was awake now, whether she liked it or not.

"Because…I'm not a pillow?"

Yuffie's eyes snapped open when she finally realized where she was and who she was with. The dream-spell had been broken. "Nyuk…nyuk…nyuk. S-Sorry," she murmured, slowly detaching her arms from Cloud's waist. "I must've been talking in my sleep again. I…uh…do that a lot. Heh heh. Stupid dream about a stupid pillow…" Yuffie trailed off when she noticed that they were in the middle of nowhere. Why had they stopped right here?

"Don't worry about it," he said, deftly swinging one leg around Fenrir so he could get off the bike. Yuffie got off the bike as well, and when Cloud saw her looking around in confusion, he tried to explain. "We're about an hour from Dera."

Yuffie cocked a brow. "Okay. So…your point?"

Cloud sighed. "I thought you might want a break before we got there. You can stretch out or something."

The young ninja rolled her eyes dramatically. "How thoughtful. You thought _I _was the one that needed a break when it was so perfectly obvious that I was having a _very _nice nap using your snuggly back as my pillow?" She blushed at her last words, but then quickly recovered. "I think you stopped because _you _wanted a break, Spiky." She crossed her arms, challenging him to deny it.

He sighed again. "Yuffie, I just thought that-"

"Really, it's okay, Cloudy!" Yuffie interrupted. "You can…erm…go do your 'business' by that nice big tree over there. Is that what you had to do?" She paused for a moment, her eyes suddenly twinkling with mirth. "Or did we stop because you're…_lost_?" She took a few steps closer to him. "Hmm?"

Cloud shook his head and turned his back on her, digging for something in one of his pockets. "We're not lost." He pulled out the map that Reeve had given him earlier that day.

Yuffie laughed obnoxiously. "If we're not lost, then why are you looking at the map, Chocobo-head? You shouldn't even need to spare a glance at that wrinkly piece of paper!"

"I'm double-checking something, Yuffie," he deadpanned, not even looking up from the map. "And don't call me that."

She rolled her eyes again. "Oh my gawd! I get it. You're really acting like Vinnie right now, you know." She swung one leg back and forth, kicking up dirt and dust in the process. "You want to study the entire schematics of the unknown territory for possible escape routes, ways in, blah, blah, _blah_."

Cloud finally looked up at her, one brow raised. "You knew that?"

"Well, duh!" Yuffie blew him a raspberry. "It's not like you had time to do that in Reeve's office when Catboy pretty much shoved us out of sight. He wanted us to leave, like, right away!" She scratched her chin in thought. "I wonder why Reeve…hey, wait a minute! Were you doubting my awesome ninja skills for a second there?"

The blonde mercenary shook his head slowly, looking at her like she was crazy. Then again, she _did _just flip flop from sleepy to confused to sarcastic to teasing to boastful to…well, the point is clearly presented and proven. Who could blame him for being a little thrown off his kilter?

"No, Yuffie. Here, do you want to take a look at the map yourself?" He held the piece of paper towards the ninja - almost as though it was a piece offering of sorts.

She shook her head with a devious smirk. "Nope. I already got it all memorized." She tapped her temple a few times, winking at him before she laughed.

Cloud visibly blanched. "How…when did you…?"

"About five minutes before I fell asleep, I think." She shrugged. "I was bored. And hey, I put it back where I found it! No harm done."

Cloud looked a little angry. "You were looking through my pockets because you were bored? You…need to make better use of your time, Yuffie." He shook his head slowly, folding the map and putting it back in one of his pockets.

"Ah, don't be mad at me, Spiky," Yuffie drawled. "I like you better when you're in your indifferent mood."

"I thought you were done pickpocketing people," he said nonchalantly, crossing his arms.

Her face reddened. "I AM!" she screamed angrily. "If I had _pickpocketed _you, you wouldn't have the map in your pocket right now, would you? I put the damn thing back where I found it, so I don't see why you're all hot and bothered."

Cloud resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I honestly don't even know why I was looking at it while on Fenrir, anyway. Reading it made me feel like I was gonna throw up. So I put it back," Yuffie went on, her temper slowly declining. "…I'm SORRY! There. You happy now? I shouldn't even have to apologize, dammit!"

He blinked his mako eyes in astonishment. Did Yuffie just apologize to him about something? "It's okay," he replied calmly, choosing to just go with the flow.

"You should apologize too! You know…for accusing me of still being a greedy pickpocket, you big jerk!" Yuffie shot back.

"…Sorry."

"You should be!" the ninja huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "But…I forgive you, I guess."

"Good," Cloud said, walking back towards Fenrir. "Are you ready to leave now? I've done what I needed to do."

Yuffie plopped down on the ground, reaching for her legs. "Give me five frickin' minutes to stretch out my poor cramped up ninja muscles! Geez!"

The blonde mercenary couldn't resist a quick eye-roll that time.

**XxXxX**

"I'm afraid I will have to agree with Reno on this, Reeve," Rufus Shinra stated, drumming the fingers of his good hand on his desk. "It's a simple mission - so you say - but I don't think those two would work well together at all. Why…they're _polar _opposites; as different as night and day."

Reno smirked triumphantly while Reeve face-palmed.

"Thanks, bossman! I knew you'd see it my way!" Reno exclaimed happily.

Rufus shook his head. "However, there is nothing we can do about mere opinions and speculations at this point, Reno. Kisaragi and Strife will be arriving in the Dera region in a matter of minutes. We will have to see how this turns out, I believe." He leaned back on his chair in thought.

This time, Reeve was the one that was smirking. "I know they'll be fine, Mr. President." He shot a quick glare at Reno. "I'm sorry to hear that Reno bothered you with something as trivial as this."

Rufus chuckled. "Well, if I didn't know any better, I would say that he was jealous of Strife for one reason or another," he commented smoothly.

"WHAT!? I am _NOT_ jealous of him!" Reno interjected in surprise. "Why the hell _would _I be? I just don't think this is a good idea to overlook the possible things that could-"

"Enough, Reno." Rufus silenced the Turk with a simple wave of his hand. "You can leave now. Don't you have paperwork to finish from that last mission of yours?"

Reno muttered something under his breath before reluctantly leaving Rufus Shinra's office.

Once the redhead had disappeared from view, the two men left in the office started to chuckle softly. "He's quite the dramatic one, isn't he?" Rufus thought aloud.

"Yes, he definitely is," Reeve agreed, nodding a few times. "I'm sorry to have wasted so much of your time, sir. I'll let you finish your work now-"

"Wait," Rufus said just as Reeve was turning to go. "There is one thing I wish to ask you before you leave."

Reeve blinked in confusion, but replied with, "Go right ahead," nonetheless.

"Is there…another reason for you to have partnered Miss Kisaragi with _Mr. Strife _for this particular mission?" the President asked calmly, tilting his head to the side a little bit.

The WRO leader adjusted his tie, swallowing the lump in his throat before laughing anxiously. "No, of course not!" he lied. "Why would there be a reason other than to make use of their compatible fighting abilities?"

Rufus shook his head slowly. "This is all too…curious, Tuesti. You're sure there was not another reason? I feel as though there was."

Reeve breathed out a shaky sigh, nervous that he hadn't quite gotten away with that quick lie. "Well, I guess…I thought that Strife would…erm…"

Rufus chuckled. "I see that look in your eyes, Commissioner. I believe I know what you are planning." He folded his hands together on his desk calmly. "But you should know that the game of Cupid has its pros and cons." He gestured to his office door. "Reno's reaction is an obvious con."

"You t-think I'm trying to set-up S-Strife and Kisaragi?" Reeve stuttered nervously, busying his hands with the hem of his shirt.

President Shinra nodded simply. "And I believe you have an apprentice working with you on this as well." He tapped his chin in thought. "You were the person closest to Kisaragi…then I suppose that would leave Lockhart as the closest friend to Strife."

Reeve gulped again. How had Rufus figured all of this out?

Rufus chuckled again. "Just keep in mind that if Kisaragi and Strife were ever to discover the true reason behind working on this simple mission together…I don't believe they would be pleased. Things like that should occur naturally."

Reeve nodded. "Believe me, I know…" His eyes suddenly widened. "You're not going to say anything, are you?"

"I will say right now that I do not think your plan will work, Tuesti," Rufus stated with a serious look on his face. "As I said earlier, they are complete opposites. And…I was always under the impression that Strife and Lockhart were together."

Reeve shook his head emphatically. "No! They were never together, sir. Tifa…at one point…wanted more than friendship with Cloud, but he was always too oblivious to see that. Plus, that was a _very _long time ago."

"Lucky for _you _then, I suppose?" Rufus said with an all-knowing smirk.

Reeve was starting to sweat. "I'm not sure…what you mean by that…sir."

Rufus shook his head, sighing dramatically. "You know exactly what I mean. Now if you will excuse me, I have paperwork to finish as well. Have a nice evening, Commissioner."

Reeve's legs carried him away from Rufus Shinra's office without much conscious thought on his part. "How is that man always so intuitive?" he muttered to himself as he slowly strode back to his office. "Damn…"

**XxXxX**

"Are we there yet?" Yuffie asked for the seventeenth time since leaving. "Spiky? Are we th-"

"_Almost_, Yuffie." Cloud had to grip the handles of his motorcycle with a little extra _oomph _to stop himself from saying anything that he would regret. He was beginning to think that he liked an unconscious Yuffie a lot more than he liked this wide awake Yuffie. "Give it about ten more minutes or so and we'll be in the Dera territory."

"Thank gawd!" she exclaimed into his back. "This is so uncomfortable back here, Spiky! How can you bear riding this thing so much? It hurts my-"

"It doesn't bother me," he quickly replied, shaking his head. "I'm immune to it, I guess."

Yuffie sighed. "Yeah, yeah…that and _more_," she muttered loud enough for him to hear.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, glancing back at her for a second. She sounded almost…spiteful when she had muttered that comment.

"What do I mean by what?" Her voice was back to its high-pitched and cheery tone. She batted her eyelashes at him briefly before burrowing into his back and slamming her eyes shut again. Just having her eyes open for a few seconds obviously made the motion sickness come rushing back full force. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said in a sing-song voice.

"You said something before…"

"No, I didn't!" the ninja chirped back. "You're just hearing things."

"You definitely said something-"

"Nope! Do you need to get your hearing checked, Cloudy?" Yuffie asked nonchalantly.

Cloud shook his head slowly, closing his eyes for a few seconds. He gave up. An argument like _this _with Yuffie wasn't worth it. What a waste of time. And energy.

"Never mind," he murmured.

"That's what I thought!" she chimed happily.

Shaking his head again, Cloud started to slow Fenrir down, bit by bit. Eventually, they came to a complete stop.

"Are we there yet?"

"No," Cloud replied, detaching Yuffie's arms from around him and getting off his bike.

Yuffie opened her eyes, looking around in confusion for the second time that day. "Then why the hell did we stop _here_!?" She dismounted Fenrir. "We're in the middle of a freakin' forest, Cloud! What's going on? You said we still had ten more minutes to go!"

"I'm not riding Fenrir straight into Dera," he explained. "That would look…suspicious. Plus, it's only a ten minute walk."

"You're a delivery-boy, Cloudy! How the hell is _'Hi, I'm here to deliver this package, kind sir'_ suspicious?" She messed with the numerous pockets on her shorts to stop her hands from shaking in exasperation. "Actually, that's a really good cover. I'm a freakin' GENIUS!" She pumped her fist into the air.

Cloud shook his head, obviously disagreeing with her. "Since when has Yuffie Kisaragi done side-jobs for Strife Delivery Service?" he countered, brow cocked. "It's not a good cover. What would the package even be?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "What…it's only a "bad" idea because _you _say is!? Who named you the leader of this mission, anyway!? The last I heard, we were _partners_, bucko!" She walked over to him and jabbed him on his chest, really hard. "A _PARTNER _is someone you work with EQUALLY, in case you didn't already know that!"

"I know what a partner is, Yuffie," Cloud said, looking more and more annoyed by the second. "…can we just get through this mission without fighting every five minutes?"

She tapped her foot on the ground a few times, biting her lip and mulling it all over. "If I agree to this stupid plan…then you totally owe me one."

"Fine," Cloud replied evenly.

"But before we leave, you can at least fill me in on what you were planning on doing once we got to Dera," she demanded with another stomp of her foot.

She was acting very childish today, Cloud thought. First, she was using him as a pillow and drooling all over his back. And now…now, this was just ridiculous.

"Fine. Once we got there, I was going to-"

"CLOUD, LOOK OUT!" Yuffie suddenly shoved him out of the way as a huge ball of fire shot towards his head. Unfortunately, she didn't think of what to do immediately after pushing him out of the way…and she lost her footing, sending both Cloud and herself falling to the ground in a heap. "Ouch! Where the hell did that fireball come from?"

They both did a quick perimeter check of the area. Cloud spotted something in the distance, just between two of the larger trees. "I think we found one of the monsters Reeve was talking about," he murmured, pointing the creature out to Yuffie.

"Euch! That thing is super ugly," she thought out loud. "It's face is all…scrunched up…and its fangs are _really _yellow. Nyuk. I betcha we can take it, though!"

The monster actually resembled something along the lines of a wolf or a bandercoeurl, but there seemed to be something wrong with its body. It was twitching angrily, staring them down with black beady eyes. And there were other abnormalities scattered all over the creature's body, but it was honestly hard to tell what exactly was _wrong_. It was unlike any monster that Cloud had ever seen before.

Yuffie hopped up, unsheathing her Conformer from the holster on her back, and ignoring Cloud's warning for her to wait. "Take this, ya ugly thing!" With a quick sweep, her weapon was sent hurtling towards the unsuspecting monster…

…who fled the area at the last second.

"Damn!" Yuffie cursed as she effortlessly caught the faithful weapon that was whizzing back to her. "I barely ever miss a target! I must be off today or something." She sheathed the weapon on her back-holster again.

"You shouldn't have been so hasty, Yuffie," Cloud reprimanded, brushing off his black pants after he stood up. "If this mission was going to be as simple as killing a monster on sight, then I'm sure that it would've already been done by someone who lives in this area. There's…more to this, I think."

Yuffie blinked in astonishment. "That's the most I've ever heard you say in one go, Spiky! That totally just made my day. I feel so special now. Nyuk!"

Cloud sighed, shaking his head and turning his back on her. "I think we won't be seeing that monster again for awhile. You scared it off. So…let's get to Dera while it's still light out."

The ninja looked around the _dimly_-lit forest, but rolled her eyes and chose not to make a smart-ass comment about it. "Alright, Chocobo-butt. Let's mosey!"

"…don't call me that."

**XxXxX**

**A/N: **Ah, another chapter complete! I hope you enjoyed this. Please please please REVIEW and tell me what you thought. It will make my day!! ;D Constructive criticism is always wonderful too!!


	4. Undercover

_4: Undercover_

Yuffie's jaw dropped when she finally saw Dera in its entirety after walking through the forested area for what felt like forever. She couldn't believe her eyes. Was this really the place that Reeve had sent them to?

"Reeve called Dera…a…a city?" Yuffie gasped out in complete shock. "This place is more like a _village_!" She glanced around at all the small hut-like houses and shops. "I never would've guessed it by looking at the map! Maybe the cartographer made it on a smaller scale or something…"

The local people all seemed incredibly friendly, Yuffie noticed. The way she saw them talking and working together, it seemed like they were genuinely kindhearted. That was definitely a plus for the mission, right? Now Yuffie was sure to be more determined to solve this weird case about the _bizarro_ monsters!

"It doesn't matter," Cloud said. "We're here for a mission. So let's get to work."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, but we can't just barge into a little place like this while we're…well, _us_! We need code-names! Ya know, aliases and all that jazz?"

Cloud stared at her blankly, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"You've never ever gone undercover for a mission before, Cloudy?" she asked, eyes widening in surprise. "'Cause that's just sad. We're going to change that starting today!" She snapped her fingers together when she remembered something. "Oh, and you totally owe me from earlier! This can be the payback, nyuk nyuk!" She rubbed her hands together mischievously. "Going undercover. YAY, I'm so excited!" She pumped both fists in the air and jumped around, obviously unable to contain her glee.

"Well, I'll be," a raspy voice called over to them. "If these two ain't the happiest newlyweds I ever done saw, then I ain't got a clue who is!" An older man approached them, smiling brightly and waving his decrepit cane at them as he drew closer. He obviously wasn't fazed by the blonde's stoic expression. In fact, he probably didn't even notice it. Otherwise, the elderly man wouldn't have made the mistake of thinking he was _happy_.

Cloud's brow furrowed. "I don't think you-"

"You two look like you ain't from 'round these here parts," the old man commented casually, stroking his blindingly white beard in thought. "So, it looks like you must be 'ere ta cel'brate yer honeymoon, ain't that right?"

Yuffie sent a devious smirk Cloud's way - she only received another blank stare from the blonde - before smiling brightly at the kind old man. "That's right! Hi, I'm Y…Yolanda," she stuck her hand out for a handshake, "and this is, uh, Cam." She gestured to Cloud. "We're so excited to be here!"

"Yolanda. Kent." The old man grinned a toothless smile right back at her, nodding to each of them in turn. "The name's Kent. Pleased t' meetcha!" He turned around and pointed at the local inn. "Go on 'n' check in at Shadow Lodge. Make yerselves at home and enjoy the stay!" He winked at them. "Don't have _too _much fun, though, ya hear?"

Yuffie nodded enthusiastically. "Don't worry, we won't! Thanks a bunch, Kent!" She crossed her arms with a small smirk on her face as she watched the old man meander back over to his small house.

When he was sure that the Kent was out of earshot, Cloud turned to Yuffie with a serious look on his face. "_Why _did you do that?"

"Do what?" The ninja huffed, waving her hand through the air absentmindedly when the frown on Cloud's face didn't disappear. "Oh, come on. Loosen up, will ya? I was _just _talking about how we needed to go undercover, and then POOF! The old geezer magically shows up and practically hands our aliases to us! It was all _too _perfect to pass up, Spiky!"

Cloud shook his head a few times. "He…thinks we're married, Yuffie."

Yuffie crossed her arms, frowning and looking like she was actually a little hurt by his statement. "…So? It's just a mission, Cloud. Like you said. And we're undercover so that it won't look as suspicious when we start to investigate a little bit." She shrugged. "_You _were the one that said that we needed to get to work, anyway!"

"I wasn't talking about going undercover," he said with a sigh.

"Too bad, so sad!" Yuffie stuck her tongue out at the exasperated mercenary. "You're gonna have to deal with it because it's the _perfect _cover! Suck it up and grow a pair, Chocobo-butt."

From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Cloud's jaw was clenched tightly. She was waiting for him to say something. Anything.

To fight back, maybe?

But he never did.

No response. Nada. Zilch. _NOPE!_

After a few more moments, he let out another sigh. "Let's go check in at the place Kent suggested. Shadow Lodge." He readjusted his hold on the knapsack he was carrying before leaving Yuffie standing there by herself.

"Hey, wait for me, you jerk!"

Cloud surprised Yuffie by actually listening to her, pausing mid-stride so she could catch up. He gave her an unreadable look. "…so my name is Cam?"

The question was so out of the blue, Yuffie couldn't help _but _to snort and laugh obnoxiously. When she saw that Cloud was starting to look annoyed again, she quickly rubbed the tears from her eyes and composed herself, taking a deep, steadying breath. "Yeah, what's wrong with the name? Cam. I like it, actually! It has a cool ring to it. Kinda just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Oh, and _Cam _is almost as funny to say as Cho-"

"-Yolanda?"

Yuffie's jaw clenched, facial expression suddenly turning deadly serious. "What. You're gonna make fun of the name I chose for myself now? That's not cool, Cloud. Not cool at all." She pushed him as hard as she could - which didn't really result in anything other than a surprised look on the blonde's face - before huffing, flipping her hair out of her face, and promptly walking away from the blonde.

"_Yuffie._"

_Damn, that sexy voice. DAMN, again with that 'sexy' word! Eep, I need to STOP THINKING right now!_

She whirled around to glare at him angrily, because she was a little miffed at him for taking a jab at her codename, but also because she was a bit mad at _herself _for the way her thoughts were spiraling out of control lately. Especially when it came to the blonde warrior.

"There's nothing wrong with the name Yolanda," the ninja defended herself. "It…it was the only girl name that begins with a 'Y' besides _Yuffie_, okay? Well, that I could think of. I was just going off the top of my head!" She huffed, rolling her eyes. "Give the girl some credit where credit is due!"

"…I'm sorry."

_Again with the surprising apologies. What the hell? He's really throwing me off lately!_

She tried to hide her confusion with a mask of indifference. "No big. Let's go check in at the inn." She laughed suddenly. "Hah. In at the _INN. _Nyuk, that always makes me laugh."

As Cloud shook his head before slowly following her, Yuffie was struck with the sudden thought that…maybe Cloud was wondering why on _Gaia _he got stuck working with _her _on this stupid mission.

For some reason, that last thought left her with an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach.

But she didn't really know why it bothered her so much.

**XxXxX**

"Oh, you mus' be the newlyweds Kent was jus' talking 'bout!" A large woman behind the front desk in the lobby - which was actually more of a small room than anything else - waved to them enthusiastically, her face scrunching up with the enormous smile she was donning. "Welcome to Shadow Lodge! Come 'n! Come 'n!"

Yuffie suppressed a laugh, quickly turning it into a discreet cough as she and Cloud did as they were told. They walked straight over to the front desk. "One room, please," the young ninja said with a tired smile.

The woman winked at them. "Well, ain't you in luck! We got _one _room left, and it's the nicest outta the whole lot!" She quickly shuffled out of her chair so she could grab the room key from the bulletin board behind her. When she turned around, she winked at them again.

Cloud silently wondered why everybody seemed to be winking at them lately.

"Here y'all go," she said, handing Cloud the room key, which read _Room 3 _on it. "Oh, I almos' forgot!" She tapped her hand to her head as she shook it, chuckling good-naturedly. "It'll be 50 gil per night here at Shadow Lodge, y'all." She smiled kindly at them. "Hope that's a'right?"

Cloud nodded. "That shouldn't be a problem. Thank you." He gave the nice woman a small smile before grabbing his things and following Yuffie - who had already snatched the key from out of his hand only seconds after it was given to him - into the hallway leading to their room.

Shadow Lodge - like many of the houses in Dera - was very small, and it was a ranch-style lot with only one floor (the _main _floor). Overall, it was a very simple place, which suited Cloud just fine. He never liked anything to be over-extravagant or gaudy. There was no point to having it like that, really.

Room 3 was no different. But compared to what he saw as he was walking down the hallway, Cloud noticed it was just a bit nicer than some of the other rooms. _Definitely worth the 50 gil per night to stay here_, he thought to himself.

"There's only _one _bed, Spikes!" Yuffie exclaimed in shock when she walked into the room. She turned to face him with an annoyed facial expression. "You better not kick in your sleep, Chocobo-butt, because if you do…well, you'd better know that _I _can kick right back…only much harder! 'Cause I'm a kickass ninja. Nyuk!" She jumped onto the bed, belly-first, and sprawled out so her limbs were covering the whole mattress. "You got that, Cloud?" Her voice was muffled because her face was still burrowed into the sheets.

Cloud walked over to the dresser, setting his knapsack down next to it. "You won't have to worry about it, Yuffie. I'm sleeping on the floor."

The ninja flipped around on the bed to send an angry glare his way. "And have you all pissy in the morning when you wake up with stiff joints everywhere? NO THANKS!" She hopped off the bed to grab her bag so she could start unpacking the minimal things that she had brought to Dera. "It's really not that big of a deal, you kn-----Oh!" She dropped the bag on the floor, holding one hand over her mouth in surprise.

"Are you alright?" Cloud strode over to where she was standing. She had a dazed look on her face…and for some reason, it left Cloud with an unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach. He'd never seen the hyperactive ninja like this before. What was wrong with her? Why did she look like she was ready to cry at any given second?

When she didn't respond to his query, he grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking them gently. "Yuffie."

She shook her head several times, blinking her eyes rapidly. "What?"

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, slowly removing his hands from her shoulders.

She let out a shaky breath, walking away from Cloud to take a seat on the bed. "Nothing. I mean, s-sorry. The Great Ninja is fine!"

He sat down next to her. He obviously wasn't believing a word that was coming out of her mouth. No surprise there, though. She _was _a master at manipulation and lying.

"You were saying it wasn't a big deal for me to sleep on the bed with you, but then you looked like you were…" he trailed off, choosing not to finish the statement with, _"…about to cry."_ He couldn't wipe the surprised look from his face, though. "What's wrong, Yuffie? Tell me."

She sighed softly, looking him straight in the eyes. "I understand why you don't want to sleep on the bed," she said matter-of-factly.

Cloud's brow furrowed. He wanted to say, _"Because it would be inappropriate?" _but he kept his silence so Yuffie could continue.

She sighed again. "You and Tifa…erm…it would feel like you were cheating on her or something, right? If you slept in the same bed as me." She bit her lip before shaking her head. "Sorry for even suggesting it."

The mercenary's eyebrows shot up so high that they were hidden underneath his blonde spiky bangs. "What are you talking about? Tifa and I…aren't together…like that." He stood up and took a couple steps away from the bed. "What gave you that idea?"

Yuffie's jaw dropped. She looked completely flabbergasted. "You guys aren't…I mean, I thought…you LIVE TOGETHER!" She clapped her hands over her mouth. That last part obviously came out louder than she meant for it to.

Cloud crossed his arms. "That doesn't mean that we're a couple, Yuffie. I don't feel for Tifa…in that way."

She cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Oh. Sorry, I guess I just thought that the only reason that would make sense for you to not wanna sleep on the bed w-"

"It's fine," he cut her off, walking towards the door. "It's getting late. I'm going to check out the area. See if I can find any information about the monsters. I'll be back soon." He reached for the handle, but then paused before opening the door. "…sleep well," he muttered before leaving Yuffie alone in Room 3.

**XxXxX**

"What the hell!" Yuffie groaned to herself once she was sure that Cloud was gone. "I just made a complete ass out of myself. How could I be so stupid!?" She buried her face in her hands. "I just made that _so _unnecessarily awkward!"

_Poor Cloud…he must think I'm bipolar or something now!_

Yuffie couldn't explain it to herself. Why had she felt like she was ready to kill, cry, and/or give up all at the same time!? All because she finally remembered that Cloud and Tifa were together? But wait, Cloud told her that they _weren't _together!

But why should it matter either way? It wasn't Yuffie's business!

And surely, The Single White Rose of Wutai doesn't care about the silly love lives of emotionless, angst-ridden blondes with their beautiful, boobalicious brunettes, anyway.

Right!?

"Right," Yuffie said to herself, nodding as she crawled over to the pillows at the opposite end of the bed. "Right, I _don't _care! Chocobo-butt can do whatever he wants. It's his life!" She pulled the blankets down so she could snuggle into bed and get comfortable. "Nyuk…I don't care…"

_Even though it did surprise the hell out of me when I found out that Teef and Cloud _weren't _a thing anymore! Er…well, they never were, I mean!_

Yuffie pounded on her pillow to mold it into a more comfy shape. "How is he so _immune _to every girl that tries to pounce on him, though!? First Tifa, then Aerith…and then there was the Gold Saucer Incident." Her face reddened darkly when she remembered The Kiss, which was followed soon after by The Quick Slap just because he was being a big dummy.

"Stupid spikyheaded jerk. Nyuk…" she laughed to herself as she closed her eyes, slowly losing consciousness. She fell asleep thinking about the blonde, a small smile on her face.

**XxXxX**

No leads were being made. None at all. It was too late in the evening for Cloud to even be able to find someone resourceful to ask about the monster incidents. Plus, most of the villagers in Dera were of the older generation, so they probably just chose to hit the sack early.

He sighed, scratching the back of his spiky head. "Guess I'd better head back then. This is pointless."

_At least the village area is more familiar now_, he thought on the positive side.

Cloud slowly made his way back to Shadow Lodge, then to the room that he and Yuffie were staying in. The lights were still on when he walked in, so he assumed that the ninja was still awake, but with one look at the bed, his thought was completely contradicted.

There, wrapped up in most of the covers and curled into a small ball on her pillow, was Yuffie, fast asleep, mouth wide open, drooling onto her pillow a little bit.

If Cloud wasn't so tired, he would've laughed at the sight. It was almost…cute.

He shook his head, taking off his shirt and throwing it onto the knapsack that he had never unpacked. Standing there for a few seconds, glancing between the floor and the wide open space on the left side of the bed, Cloud debated internally.

Shrugging softly, he silently padded over to the bed. _I'll be up before she is anyway. _He carefully crawled into the bed, trying not to make too much movement. He didn't want to wake up the peaceful ninja.

Cloud took another glance at Yuffie. For the second time that day, he was struck with the thought that she wasn't that bad…when she was unconscious. He smirked before getting under what was left of the covers - which wasn't really that much considering Yuffie was wrapped up in most of them.

With another sigh, Cloud laid his head onto the feathery soft pillow.

Sleep had always been a difficult task for him, especially after the Meteor incident, but for reasons unbeknownst to Cloud, he was able to fall asleep only moments after his head hit the pillow.

**XxXxX**

**A/N: **So sorry but I'm not going to be able to update for a long time. Starting tomorrow, I'm outta town till the 21st, so I won't have computer access till I get back. =/ Well, on the positive side, thanks so much to all you readers and reviewers! I love the support. So I was kinda sorta maybe hoping that you guys would review some more so that I could have lotsa comments and constructive criticism to read about once I get back in town? Possibly?

Kay thanks! Love y'all!


	5. Work, work, work

_5: Work, work, work_

The next morning, Yuffie woke up feeling more refreshed and rejuvenated than she had felt in a really long time. She slowly sat up, stretching her arms over her head and yawning loudly. Licking her lips, she looked around the room, actually taking in its simple beauty for what it really was. The 50 gil was undeniably worth everything Shadow Lodge had to offer_._ "Whoa!" she exclaimed, glancing at the floral-print sheets over her legs. "This bed was _comfy_!" She scratched the back of her head absentmindedly, gazing over to the opposite side of the bed.

She cocked her head to the side in confusion. The other pillow looked like it had been used last night.

Did Cloud actually choose to sleep there? Without Yuffie even _knowing _about it?

She looked around in room in a quick surveillance sweep. There was no sign of the blonde warrior anywhere. He had probably gotten up early before leaving to do more "detective" work or something. _Nyuk, Detective Spiky. I like the sound of that._

Yuffie's brow furrowed as she leaned over to the other side of the bed so she could more closely examine the pillow.

_It smells like him!?!_

"Damn!" Yuffie cursed, jumping out of bed to change into a fresh pair of clothes for the new day. "I can't believe I was unconscious for that! He _actually _chose to sleep on the bed!" She threw her tank-top and shorts onto the ground in a dirty heap. "And I missed it!?" She stumbled onto the ground as she tried to put her fresh socks on while still standing. "_Damn-damn-damn_!" She was fuming. But she seriously needed to calm down before something bad happened. Like accidentally (or _purposely_) hurting someone.

Cloud could just so happen to be that innocent victim...

She chuckled at the mental picture of Cloud running away from the sight of her awesome ninja powers and her mighty weapon. Her mood lightened considerably. _That was a good pick-me-up. I'll have to remember that particular image whenever I'm having a crappy day._

"Alright, Cloudy-boy, where'd you take off to so fast?" she muttered to herself after she was completely dressed and ready for the day. Then she left Room 3. As she walked through the lobby, the heavy-set receptionist from the day before caught her gaze and waved enthusiastically at her. Yuffie laughed to herself, walking over to the front desk. "Hey, have you seen Cl-C-_Cam _at all today? He was gone before I even woke up."

The woman - named Ruby based on the nametag that Yuffie saw on her large chest - winked slyly at the ninja. "Can't keep track o' yer husband, can ya?" She let out an funny-sounding laugh. "Well, all I can tell ya is that I saw him walk out that door," she nodded in the direction of the entrance doors, "and I ain't got no clue where he's gone off to." Her brow furrowed. "He ain't too friendly in the morning, is he? I said g'morning to him, but he dun' reply!" Ruby looked truly scandalized. "He dun' even look a' me!"

Yuffie laughed. "Uh, yeah. You could say he's not a morning person." _If by morning, you mean most times of the day,_ she mentally added. "Sorry about that. He's a good guy once you get to know him well enough."

Was it weird that she was defending Cloud to this odd receptionist woman? Yuffie felt like it was…

Ruby smiled toothily at the ninja. "Sure, I kin tell! Ya know, you two make an awfully ador'ble couple, by the way!" she complimented.

Yuffie's face reddened. "Uh…thanks." At the awkward feeling that was beginning to churn in her gut, Yuffie figured it was probably time to say goodbye to Ruby the receptionist now. "Um, well…I better go find Cl---uh, Cam! Bye!"

She waved to Ruby before running through the main doors of Shadow Lodge and into the bright, welcoming sunlight. "What a nice day out!" she murmured to herself, placing her hands over her eyes to act as a sun visor. She ran towards the more heavily-populated area of Dera. Some of the villagers waved at her as she passed by. She waved right back. It seemed like _everyone _who lived in Dera was outside conversing, doing laundry, playing around with little kids, or just sitting. They seemed like very outdoorsy people here, she thought with a smile. Not to mention incredibly friendly.

But there was no sign of Cloud _anywhere_.

Yuffie stopped running, biting her lip in thought and tapping her foot on the dirt below her boots. Her eyes twinkled when she thought of something. "CAM! OH, CAAAM! WHERE _ARE _YOOOU!?"

If that didn't find her _dear _husband, then she didn't know what would. Where _was _he anyway?

She placed her hands on her hips and shrugged, choosing to try again when she still saw no sign of Cloud. "CAAAM! WH-"

A hand suddenly covered her mouth, scaring the hell out of her. When she struggled to get free from this person's clutches, a hand slowly wrapped itself around her waist, successfully keeping her from getting free. A tingly feeling darted across Yuffie's stomach when the hand around her waist made contact with her skin. It shocked her enough to render her temporarily silent _and _motionless. A few seconds later, the hands released her. Maybe it was because she had stopped struggling around so much?

She turned around to give the jerk a piece of her mind, but when she came face-to-face with the culprit, her eyes widened. "_Cloud? _What the hell!?" She hoped her voice sounded less shaky than she felt it was. For some reason, Cloud _touching _her - in even the smallest way - had left her a really weird feeling. And she didn't like that she actually _liked _the way it was making her feel.

He scratched the back of his spiky hair and shrugged. "You were being loud. People were staring at you."

"Like that's a bad thing!?" Yuffie shoved Cloud as hard as she could. He didn't budge an inch, though, to her utter chagrin.

"And I was looking for _you_, ya big jerk! Why'd you leave me all alone?" She crossed her arms and huffed indignantly. "I didn't know where you were! What did you expect me to do? Waste my time looking for you everywhere? Pfft, no thanks! Plus, I've always had good luck with the whole _'I'm screaming your name because I'm looking for you' _thing." She smirked at him. "And it worked. You're here now, aren't you?"

"Why were you looking for me?" he asked in his chronically calm voice.

The ninja groaned. "Are you serious? Ugh, you're really dumb sometimes, Chocobo-head. Has anyone ever told you that before? Because if not, then you've really lived an incredibly sheltered life for a-"

"Yuffie," Cloud cut her off, crossing his arms. "Answer the question."

She stared into his bright blue eyes, and for some reason, it was impossible for her to look away. "I thought I already told you. I didn't know where you were. So I thought I'd come find you so we could do some more work on this whole mission thing!"

Cloud sighed, uncrossing his arms. "Normally, I would agree with you," he stated. "But I'm starting to have the feeling that this mission is pointless. I've asked around to see what people knew about the 'monster attacks,' and no one knows a thing."

"What!?" Yuffie exclaimed in shock. "You are kidding me! Reeve wouldn't have sent us here if this was a bogus case, would he? And hey, there was that weird creature-thing we saw yesterday in the woods…"

"Yeah," Cloud shook his head. "But I…don't know, Yuffie. I really don't know."

Yuffie bit her lip in thought. If Cloud was right and this mission really _was _bogus, then she would be pissed. They didn't come all the way to Dera to be sent straight back to Edge! Plus…if they went back to Edge…then that would mean that Yuffie probably wouldn't see Cloud again till…_who knows when_!? She nodded her head when she came to a decision. "Well, let's not give up, Spiky! Okay? 'Cause I'm not a quitter and you shouldn't be, either!"

"I'm not a qui-"

"GOOD! Then let's get to work, Cl---I mean, CAM!! Heh heh." Yuffie pumped her fist into the air determinedly. "Oh, look! There's Kent! He can be the first person I interrogate for the mission. Nyuk! The Great Ninja Detective Yuffie is on the case!" She ran towards the old man that was waving at them from his front porch. He was sitting on a comfortable-looking rocking chair with a pleased grin on his face. "Hiya, Kent!"

The old man grinned toothily at something behind her, and when Yuffie turned around, all she saw was Cloud approaching them. She had run off, leaving the warrior standing there all by his lonesome. _Whoops. _Shrugging, she took a seat on the ground a few feet away from Kent's rocking chair. "How's it going, old man?" She spread her legs out in front of her and leaned back on her hands to get more comfortable.

Kent let out a bark-like laugh. "Pretty dern good, Yolanda. How's the honeymoon goin'?" He looked from Cloud then back to Yuffie with an all-knowing smirk on his face. "I trust y'all are enjoyin' Shadow Lodge?"

"Yeah, it's a really nice inn!" Yuffie said with a huge smile on her face. Cloud was standing right next to her, so she reached over and patted his leg. "Right, _Cam_?"

Cloud nodded slowly. "…yeah."

Kent closed his eyes for a few seconds. "Good, good, good." He smiled. "Glad ta hear it!" He stretched his arms out over his head. "Is there an'thing I can help ya with, or do ya jus' enjoy having me as company?" He winked at them. "Either way, I'm a happy camper."

_Again with the winking! Why is _everyone _winking at us lately?_

Yuffie shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask you something. Cam and I picked Dera as our honeymoon spot because it's such a beautiful place." She glanced around the village. The sun was shining brightly, flowers were blooming everywhere, and children were running around laughing merrily. It _truly _was a nice place to be. Even if it was just for a stupid mission.

"But we've heard rumors…about these creature-things that have been attacking during the night," Yuffie continued. When she looked at Kent, she noticed that he had a serious look on his face. His jaw was clenched as well. "Do you know anything? Because I…erm…I get scared of stuff like that," she lied, "and I was just curious if any of that was even true."

After a few moments' silence, Kent let out a soft laugh. "Creature-things, ya say? Eh, we ain't got no problems wi' stuff like that!" He laughed again. "Alls we've had happen here was a little bit of a break-in at the butcher house over there." He nodded his head towards one of the bigger hut-style homes. "Someone stole a bunch o' raw meat!" He held his belly as he started to laugh uncontrollably.

Yuffie glanced at Cloud, giving him a silent _What the heck _look. He read it immediately, uncrossing his arms and taking a few steps closer to Kent. "You're sure there've been no other weird occurrences here?"

Kent blinked his eyes, wiping tears of mirth from them before replying, "Well, sure. I wouldn't lie to ya, now would I?" His white brow furrowed as he looked between Cloud and Yuffie again. "You have any other questions b'fore I go inside to take meh late mornin' nap?"

_Late morning nap? _Yuffie tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Nope, we're good!" She hopped to her feet, brushing the dirt off her shorts. "Thanks for the info, Kent! Talk to ya later!" She waved at the kind old man before running off in another direction.

"Yu---Yolanda, wait!" Yuffie heard Cloud call after her.

Yuffie skidded to a stop, brushing her bangs away from her eyes and turning around to face her partner. "What's up, _Cam_?"

"Yuffie," he said in a softer voice so he was sure that no one else could here, "did you get the same idea about him as I did?"

Yuffie's brow furrowed. "Who? You mean, Kent?" She absentmindedly readjusted her bandana, trying carefully not to make direct eye contact with him.

Cloud crossed his arms, nodding slowly. "Yeah. He was hiding something."

The ninja's arms fell to her sides as she sighed. "Well, duh, Spiky. A little toddler who doesn't even know how to _talk _yet could've probably figured that one out."

Cloud shook his head. "Yuffie, I'm trying just as much as you are on this mission. You really don't have to act like that every ten seconds, do you?" He gave her an unreadable look. "Or should I leave this all to you? I have no problem going back to Edge and leaving you here by yourself to figure it all out."

Yuffie's eyes widened in surprise. Cloud had never _ever _actually chosen to respond to her smart-ass comments. Usually, he just took all her crap in stride or he would ignore it completely. This reaction…was definitely a shocker to the ninja. But it wasn't like she was upset or anything. Nope. She was just surprised. And a bit _happy _even…that Cloud finally decided not to take her shit anymore.

It was nice to have a challenge every now and then. But that didn't stop her from feeling a bit bad about her comment. She didn't want him to be _mad _at her.

Her mouth opened and closed a few times, as if she was trying to say something, but it was all in vain. She didn't know _what_ to say. She wished she could tell him that she was sorry, that she didn't want him to go, and that she was only acting that way because she didn't want him to know that she - _in fact! _- liked him very _very _much. Maybe a little too much. But she didn't want him to know that part.

_No way!_

She sighed, scratching her arm as she stared at the ground. Using her boot, she drew random shapes into the dirt pathway.

"Are you even going to say anything, Yuffie?" she heard him ask calmly.

With another sigh, she kicked dirt into the air and finally made eye contact with him. "Okay, okay! You're right, Cloud. Sorry about the overabundance of sarcastic comments being sent your way."

He seemed taken-aback by her quick apology, but she kept right on talking before he got the chance to say anything. "I ran over here because I was gonna check out the wooded area." She pointed to where the trees started to get thicker and more dense. "That was where we found the first monster, so I thought that maybe if we make a really good plan or something…we could, uh, get to the bottom of this sometime soon." She paused for a moment as she busied her hands with the hem of her shorts. "…together?"

Cloud nodded slowly. "That's a good idea." He started to walk towards the woods. "I take it you already have your weapons with you, Yuffie." It was a statement, not a question.

Yuffie nodded with a small smirk on her face. "Of course! I could say the same thing to you too, Cloudy. You're always prepared for the _unexpected_! You could probably pass as a ninja too, you know." She rubbed the back of her head as they made their way deeper into the woods. Why was it that she felt more comfortable with someone she barely ever sees than she felt with any other person that she sees practically every single day?

"Well, maybe more of a samurai than a ninja, actually. Since you have that big-ass sword and all," she continued, tapping her chin in thought.

Cloud glanced at her, one brow raised. "Big-ass sword?"

Yuffie turned to face him, smiling innocently. "Well, yeah! Has anyone ever told you that your sword is actually _very _scary? If I'm not too careful, I feel like you could accidentally slice me in half with that huge thing!"

He shook his head slowly, trying to mask the smile that was threatening to emerge. Seriously though…when was the last time Yuffie saw Cloud Strife allow a _smile _to grace his stoic features?

"I would never hurt you, Yuffie."

Her heart fluttered at his softly spoken statement. She silently cursed herself for regressing to the lovesick teenager she was all those years ago…but she couldn't help it! Cloud Strife was her freakin' partner, so she was around him all the time now, he was really kindhearted - well, when he wasn't ignoring her, that is - and he was sexy as hell! Could you blame her for still having a teeny-tiny crush on him, even after 5 years?

Well, no. You really can't blame her. Who would!? Because if someone called her crazy or something like that...then she would probably be forced to hunt them down, Conformer in hand.

Yuffie tried to ignore the red tinge that was starting to burn onto her cheeks. "Great ninjas do not _pine _after angsty mercenaries," she whispered almost inaudibly, trying to convince herself that it was actually true at the same time.

Cloud glanced over at her for a second. "Did you say something?"

She shook her head emphatically. "N-no, I…I mean, yeah, I did! I said that I know you wouldn't ever hurt me, Spikes!" She gave him a playful shove on the shoulder. "Because if you ever did, then you should know that my shuriken would come flying after your spiky ass. Got that?" She grabbed a throwing star from one of her multiple pockets and examined it. "These things are pretty sharp. I've heard it hurts when they make contact…with _flesh_." She started to laugh creepily. "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk…"

From the corner of her eye, she saw Cloud sigh and shake his head. "Whatsa matter? You scared of the Great Ninja Yuffie?"

"…petrified," he replied calmly, still looking straight ahead.

"Well, good. Because I am a ---Hey! I've heard this somewhere before…" she trailed off as the memory of the day she had first met Cloud came rushing back full force. _Things haven't really changed, _she thought, eyes twinkling with mirth. _And I'm perfectly fine with that. _

She glanced over at her silent companion once more as they made their way deeper into the woods, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

_For now._

**XxXxX**

**A/N: **Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews, alerts, etc for this story!! When I got back in town, I was so happy to have a bunch of emails waiting to be read. ;D

Soooo anyway, I guess it would be pretty awesome if you reviewed this chapter too! Just to let me know people are still reading. Oh, and how you felt/what you thought about this chappie!!

Thanks so much everyone!!!


	6. Waiting Game

_6: Waiting Game_

With a soft click of the front door, it was obvious that someone had entered the bar without wanting to be seen or heard. Tifa Lockheart - the eyes, ears, and _heart _of Seventh Heaven - couldn't be fooled. She liked to fancy herself as a master when it came to the inner and outer happenings of the bar. So naturally, when the click resounded from the main floor all the way to her bedroom, she got to her feet, readjusted her gloves, and walked down the stairs, ready to take action.

"We don't open for another three hours," Tifa stated as she reached the bottom step, placing her hands on her hips in what was meant to be a domineering stance.

Her arrival was greeted with the sound of a beer bottle shattering on the smooth marble floor.

"Oops. Sorry…" the culprit said with a laugh.

Tifa closed her eyes as she willed herself not to get upset. She _knew _she had heard someone come through the front door.

"This is the third time this week!" She sighed as she bent over to help dispose of the broken glass. "You can't keep sneaking in here for free beer when the bar's not even open yet." She stood up to dump the shards in the garbage can. "You're my friend, but that doesn't give you the right to take advantage of me, you know…" she trailed off.

She may have been the eyes, ears and heart of her beloved bar, but sometimes it was beneficial to her omniscient knowledge when the person that most frequently broke in to the bar was _Reno_.

"Yeah, yeah. I just needed some booze," Reno casually stated as he leaned his back against the bar counter.

Tifa crossed her arms. "You said that last time, Reno. And I know something is wrong. You've been acting really strange the past few days."

Reno broke eye contact with her. "Dunno what you're talking about, yo."

"Come on, Reno." Tifa placed her hands on the Turk's shoulders to make him look at her. "Just tell me."

At her pleading words, the redhead sighed and shook his head. A few moments later, he scratched the back of his head, as though he were trying to think of a way to explain himself.

Noticing that Tifa was getting more and more impatient by the second, he managed to stutter to a start. "O-o-okay, okay! I…I'm pissed that Kisaragi is working with someone other than _me _on a mission. Alright!?" He pushed off the counter and distanced himself from Tifa by walking over to one of the booths on the other side of the room. "You happy to hear something as _completely _jacked up as that?"

Tifa remained silent, biting her lip as she pondered what she had just heard.

_This was not part of the plan._

"Wait, Reno. Do you…have feelings for Yuffie?" she asked tentatively, taking a few steps closer to him.

He let out a huge groan in response, slapping his hand to his forehead. "Dammit to hell…I hope not! I mean, _shit_, I have no clue."

"Well, you obviously like to work as her partner for the missions Rufus and Reeve send you on, right?" It was as though she was asking herself almost as much as she was asking Reno.

He slowly nodded. "She's an annoying, clumsy, selfish ninja brat, but for some crazy reason…I _like _the time we spend sparring and yelling at each other!" He closed his eyes. "I've never happier than when those missions get so damn crazy and stressful…and when she's annoyed me to the point of wanting to strangle her and give her a damn noogie at the same time!" A ghost of a smile appeared on his face.

Tifa's brow furrowed. "That…that doesn't make much sense."

"Yeah," Reno let out a bitter laugh as he turned to leave the bar, "you're telling _me_. I'm just waiting for her to come back so I can figure out why the _hell _I feel like a piece o' shit." With another soft click, the one person that was supposed to be in the bar was the only one left.

"Could it actually be true that _Reno's _a little jealous of Yuffie working with Cloud instead of with him?" she said to herself quietly. Brushing her dark tendrils of hair behind her ear, Tifa started to bite on her lip nervously again.

_This was definitely not part of the plan._

**XxXxX**

"This is not turning out to be the best search-slash-elimination-of-the-big-gross-monster-thing," Yuffie commented with a small sigh. "Not at all." As she looked around the heavily shaded canopy of trees, vines, grass and darkness, she realized that she had no idea what time it was, or even how long she and Cloud had been working on finding the beast. "We haven't seen _one _monster today."

"It was better left unsaid," Cloud remarked softly as they continued on their trek.

Yuffie's brow lifted up underneath her black bangs. She was surprised he even made a response, but then she figured that he was most probably getting as sick of this part of the mission as she was. "Cloudy?" she asked as a sudden thought came to mind.

"Don't call me that."

Yuffie ignored his comment, instead continuing by vocalizing what was on her mind at that particular moment. "Where are we? Do you know what time it is? Do you have food and water with you? Because I don't. Are we gonna camp out in this creepy forest for the night? I'm already cold. Won't it be getting even colder out here? Did you bring enough materia for you and mm_mmmff._"

The last part of her query was cut off. She would've finished what she was saying, but the large gloved hand resting over her mouth was going to make that process quite difficult. So instead, she decided to glare daggers deep into Cloud's soul until he chose to let go of her.

Just so she could finish her question.

Not because she didn't _like _that he was touching her.

"Why do you ask so many questions, Yuffie?" Cloud asked once he removed his hand from her face. "It's hard to understand when you ask so many at a time, so fast."

"Well _excuse _me for wanting to know what the _hell _is going on!" she countered. "Would it kill you to talk every now and then? I can't believe we've been walking in this stupid forest for gawd only knows how long, and you didn't breathe a word the entire time! Do you know how hard it is for someone like _me _to stay silent that long? Very hard! I really wanted to ask you all of those questions earlier, but with - ya know - more time in between each thing, but I thought you liked me better when I was all silent and mature because you always act all stoic and meditative like a kickass warrior should, and I thought that maybe if you act like that then your partner should be the same way, but I just realized that I, Yuffie Kisaragi of the great nation of Wutai, can never be silent for more than a few minutes!!" She ran out of breath after voicing all of her thoughts in a span of about ten seconds, so she was forced to take a few deep inhalations to catch her breath again.

When she caught sight of the look Cloud was sending her way, she immediately blushed, crossing her arms and hoping to all gods that she didn't sound like a complete idiot. _Too late._ "W-What? You gonna say something, or are ya just gonna stare at me!?"

Cloud's smirk faltered a bit as his eyebrow twitched. "Did you refer to me as…kickass?"

Yuffie nearly dropped to the ground in a blend of annoyance and disbelief from his question. "That's…that's all…you have to say…about _everything_…I just said!?"

Cloud let out a barely audible chuckle as he shook his head. His expression was abruptly cut off by the death glare that the young ninja was sending his way. "Then where do you want me to start?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Well don't be such a smartass about it! Just tell me what our game-plan is." She paused for a moment when Cloud seemed to be waiting for something else to be said. "…please," she added in a murmur.

Cloud smirked. "We've been out here looking for leads on the monster for…" he did a quick perimeter check of the area, "a little over four hours."

_No wonder my stomach's growling…WE SKIPPED LUNCH!!_

"Right now, we're in the middle of the forest, so it'll take as long to get back to Dera as it did to get here," the blond continued, ignoring Yuffie's groans of protest. "…we'll be setting up camp here tonight."

Yuffie opened her mouth to say something, but Cloud quickly cut her off. "Don't even ask…the answer's yes. I have food, a little water…and a blanket or two," he stated as he threw his knapsack on the ground to search through it. "A fire materia should be all we need to warm up and make our food."

"YES!" Yuffie screamed as she pumped her fist in the air happily. "I can deal with that part. I am _so _hungry right now! You have no idea…"

The blond sighed. "I think I have an idea," he muttered. "You…may not be happy about this, Yuffie, but…we can only keep the fire lit for a while."

"Oh, shit. You're right," Yuffie chuckled nervously as realization dawned on her. She scratched the back of her head. "We wouldn't want to be the cause of a catastrophic forest fire if we fell asleep with it still lit, now would we? Poor Kent and all the other bizarre but oddly adorable Derans would be really pissed at us!"

Cloud shook his head. "Exactly," he agreed as he took a seat on the ground next to his knapsack.

"Cloud?"

"Hn?" The blonde warrior didn't look away from his bag, but Yuffie somehow knew he was listening. She'd had enough practice by then to know when Cloud was ignoring her, and when he was actually waiting patiently for her to continue. Call her Yuffie, _the expert Cloud-reader._

Hopefully, that didn't sound as strange out in the open as it did in her head.

Well, it would never be said out in the open, so why did she care?

She shook her head, and opened her mouth to speak again. "Wanna play a game?"

His head slowly raised to look at her. "You…want to play a game. Right now." The way he spoke was as though he was stating what he just heard, not asking for clarification.

Yuffie nodded happily. "Yup! And you're gonna participate whether you like it or not!" Her beaming face fell slightly when she saw no enthusiasm in Cloud's features. Not like she was expecting any excitement from the man at all…but still. "Hey, if we're gonna be stuck out here doin' nothing for the next couple hours before we pass out from pure exhaustion, why not pass the time by getting to know each other _even _better than we already dooooo?"

"You said we were playing a game," Cloud replied as he started to make a pile of wood and flint in order to ignite a fire.

"Yup." Yuffie nodded again. "It's all part of the game!"

**XxXxX**

All Cloud could manage to think at that particular moment was '_Why me?' _But instead of voicing that quite rational thought, he found his lips moving to form something completely different than what was on his mind at that moment.

"Fine," he murmured with a sigh. "Whatever you say."

Why was he bothering to go along with this? Surely something terrible was going to happen.

But…could it really be so bad to humor Yuffie…just this once?

The ninja shrieked happily, jumping up to wrap her arms around his shoulders in an enthusiastic hug as he continued to work with the wood on the ground. "THANK YOU!"

Cloud cleared his throat, trying to ignore the prickly heat he was starting to feel on his face.

What was that feeling…?

"Sure," he murmured, still trying to concentrate solely on getting the wood to start burning into a fire. And getting his cheeks to _stop _burning altogether.

Before he knew it, Yuffie had detached herself from him and was bouncing all around their temporary campsite, a blindingly bright smile on her face all the while. "Ooookay. Where to start…? Oh, I got it!" She snapped her fingers as her eyes bore holes into Cloud's skull. "Two truths and a lie!"

"Two truths and…what?" Cloud blinked in her direction.

Yuffie sighed in exasperation, bolting back over to him and plopping down, a small cloud of dirt puffing into the air from her sudden action. The mercenary pretended not to notice that part. "It's easy. I'll go first." She scratched her chin for a few seconds before starting, a grin steadily forming on her face. "My middle name is Fi. My absolute favorite materia is Cure! Annnnd…I _hate _it when families go out in public and act all mushy-gushy towards each other."

Cloud had no idea how to play this game. "Now what?" he deadpanned.

Yuffie slapped her hand to her face. "You're supposed to figure out which one is the lie, stupid!"

"…"

One lie? They all seemed reasonably true. Well, except maybe the one about her middle name. Yuffie _Fi _Kisaragi? It didn't sound right. But if it _was _true, then her childhood nickname should've been _Fifi, _not The Great Ninja…and if he was one of her Wutainese friends growing up, there would've been a slight possibility that he would make fun of that particular nickname.

Or maybe it was a _definite _possibility. Fifi didn't sound like the name of a great ninja to him. He would probably laugh if-

"Cloud?"

"…"

Out of all the materia in Gaia for Yuffie to love, would she really choose _cure _as her favorite? Somehow, that didn't sound very…ninja-like. At all. Why not Manipulate? Steal? Throw? Fire? _His _Knights of the Round Table that she always somehow got into her possession when he wasn't looking-

"Helloooo!?"

But wait. Mushy-gushy. Family. Public. Yuffie _was _definitely the type of person that would get easily annoyed by stuff like that.

Right?

"CHOCOBO-BRAIN!!!"

"…I'm _thinking_, Yuffie," he calmly stated as he ignored the impatient glare being sent his way. He sighed. "Fine. You lied about…the materia."

Yuffie crossed her arms and smirked. "Nope."

Cloud's brow furrowed. "The middle name?"

She shook her head quickly. "Nuh-uh!"

His mouth was agape at that point. "The last one was a lie?"

Yuffie tilted her head to the side slightly as her hazel-gray orbs stared straight into his own icy-blues. "Is that really so surprising?"

Cloud couldn't explain why, but his chest seemed to clench a infinitesimal amount when he detected a tinge of hurt in her voice. He wanted to apologize, but---

…Wait, _he _wanted to apologize for something as ridiculous as a game?

Why on Gaia would he do that!?

"Yeah," he chose to voice instead.

"Oh," the ninja replied in a soft voice. "Well, I guess that's why we're playing this game then, huh? To get to know each other better."

Why was it that Yuffie seemed almost offended right now? Cloud was sincerely confused. It was just a game, of course. A ridiculous game. A ridiculous game to get to know each other better.

But they were already friends.

What was the point of playing a game like this in the middle of a forest when---

"Want me to explain the truths?" she asked suddenly.

Cloud had to take a deep breath to calm his heart rate down. The sudden sound of her loud voice had…well, it had startled him straight out of his reveries. He was so lost in thought that he momentarily forgot where he was…and who he was with.

Hopefully she didn't notice his reaction. He sighed, trying to force away the heat of embarrassment from his cheeks as he concentrated on what Yuffie was saying.

"Sure," he said softly.

This should be interesting.

"Kay," she said with a light sigh. "I know it sounds stupid, but my middle name _is _Fi. And---HEY! Wipe that stupid smirk off your face, Cloud! I know you think it's funny. It's NOT! Well, okay maybe a little. But blame Godo! It was his dumbass idea."

"Did people call you Fifi?" Cloud asked, trying to keep his smirk from reappearing.

Yuffie's eyes widened as her hands clenched together in fists. "Yes…but they stopped after I kicked their asses whenever they kept using it as my name. I. Am. Not. A. _Fifi._"

"Must be why you proclaim all your titles so much. So no one can make the mistake of calling you something you don't like," Cloud added with a trace of sarcasm.

She rolled her eyes. "People are always gonna call me stuff I don't like. Brat. Kid. The Greatest Ninja in all of Gaia. Whatever. Just as long as it's not Fifi, I'm good."

Cloud let out a small chuckle. "Glad I don't have a middle name like that."

"Spiky-headed _jerk_!" Yuffie frowned. "Guess I'll use that as your middle name, kay?"

It was Cloud's turn to roll his eyes now. "…are you going to finish explaining your truths or can we just stop the game?"

Yuffie huffed. "YES, I'm going! Geez, patience is a virtue." She crossed her arms over her chest in an almost protective way. Cloud wondered why. "Cure is my favorite materia because it heals when people are hurt. 'nuff said."

"No it's not," Cloud countered.

He mentally asked himself why he was challenging Yuffie like that. Her eyes seemed to have faded into a darker shade of gray, he noticed. "What's wrong?" he asked, suddenly paranoid that he had said something to upset her to the point of…possibly crying?

She gave her head a few harsh shakes before sniffling. "Nothing. I just wish I woulda had a Cure materia when my mom got hurt."

Cloud's eyes widened a fraction. She couldn't save her mother from dying because she was probably too young, but she was convinced a Cure materia would've helped. What was he supposed to say to her that wouldn't make him seem like a completely indifferent jerk? He couldn't think of a thing. "Oh." Other than that, obviously.

Yuffie shifted away from him for a second, rubbing at her eyes, before turning to look at him again with a smile on her face. "Alrighty. Sorry 'bout that."

Cloud was about to say, _"You have every reason to be sad about that. Don't apologize," _but Yuffie kept right on talking.

"So now I have to explain the lie, huh? Okay." She clapped her hands together before rubbing them a few times. "I know you probably won't believe this, but I kinda love it when I see families together, all lovey-dovey and cuddly. It's sweet. I wish my family could've been closer like that. But I'm fine with just watching it from a distance." She shrugged. "And maybe someday I can have my own family like that," she smiled, staring off into space.

"I'm sure you could," Cloud said softly, looking down at his boots. Deep down, he wondered why Yuffie was acting like this today. So open. Honest. Different.

And he didn't understand why he wasn't having any problems with it. Not like he had problems with the other ways Yuffie acted, but---he mentally slapped himself for the way his thoughts were spiraling out of control.

"Okay!" Yuffie clapped her hands together again before pointing at the blond. "Your turn!"

Two truths and a lie… "Fine." Cloud had no idea what to say. "…" Crap.

"I'm waiting," Yuffie said in a sing-song voice. "Come on, it can't be _thaat _hard. If I can do it, you definitely can."

Cloud glanced down at the fire that he managed to ignite a few minutes ago, staring at the flames as they danced around each other in perfect form. If Yuffie got…somewhat…personal during her turn, then he could too. Well, at least he _supposed _so.

Why not.

"I never knew my father. Blue is my favorite color." He reached inside his knapsack to take out the instant-meals they would need to cook over the fire for dinner. "And I like choco-choco bars."

Yuffie's eyes widened. Then, a smirk formed on her face. It was small at first, but within seconds, it spread across both cheeks. Her eyes were twinkling with mirth to match the cheeky grin. "_Obviously_, you're favorite color is NOT blue. It's GRAY!"

Cloud's breathing hitched in his throat. What had the ninja just said?

"Cloudy-poo! Was I right?"

But---

How did she---

He thought for sure that---

When he---

It couldn't---

She was right?

She was right.

He nodded slowly, never taking his eyes off the flames in front of him.

"BOOYAH! That's why they call me the _Great _Ninja Yuffie." She covered her hand over her mouth to stifle some of her obnoxious laughter. "'Cause I'm GRRREAT! Nyuk nyuk nyuk."

"How did you know that?" Cloud asked, causing Yuffie to immediately fall silent. "…my favorite color?"

Yuffie shrugged. "Process of elimination! I figured that a class-act like you was raised into a momma's boy at a pretty young age-"

He sent an icy glare in her direction, anger steadily rising into his chest.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoops! I didn't mean that in a _bad _way! I just meant that you musta had a pretty awesome mom is all." She clapped him on the shoulder a few times, just a bit to over-exaggeratingly in his opinion. "Seriously. She raised you right. Just look at ya! You saved the world like seven times and---"

Cloud stopped listening to Yuffie for a few seconds. He was in utter disbelief. Yuffie…the notorious ninja…had just complimented his upbringing. Since when had Yuffie ever dished out compliments to anyone but herself? Especially about something…like this?

"---and you're a good friend, I _guess_," she finished with a laugh, her cheeks reddening slightly.

_Why is she blushing?_

Cloud had missed most of what she just said, but from her last comment, he assumed she was done, now waiting for him to say something in response. He cleared his throat. "Uh…it was only twice…but thanks."

Yuffie rolled her eyes, catching onto his _saving-the-world_ comment right away.

"Whatever. Oh, lemme finish explaining how I figured out which one was your lie!"

"Fine."

"Okay, so number one: oh, I already explained the whole thing with your mom. Soooo then, number two: who ISN'T completely in LOVE with chocolate chocobo bars!? Those things are delicious! Chocolate…shaped into cute little chocobos. It seriously could not get any better."

"Not everyone likes them," he countered weakly.

She shook her head dramatically, some dark hair getting into her eyes as a result. She absentmindedly swatted the fly-aways out of her face. "You are _so _wrong. Everyone does. I even saw Vinnie eating one once! I about passed out from shock. Vinnie. Eating CHOCOLATE. You'd think that would kill vampires. Or at least give them major cavities."

Cloud sighed. "So you just happened to know blue wasn't my favorite color…by elimination." If this was a game, then he was losing.

Cloud Strife didn't exactly like to lose.

Especially to an annoying ninja like Yuffie.

"Yup yup! I beat ya!"

She was thinking along the same lines that he was.

"Fine," he murmured. "Can we play a different game then?"

**XxXxX**

_Yuffie felt the anticipation burning from within her. They had been waiting for what felt like years to finally face Sephiroth in the depths of the freaky-ass Northern Crater. That day had finally come. But she wouldn't be alone in stating that she wasn't exactly excited to take care of business._

"_Why does it have to be so quiet here?" the ninja whined as she looked around the side of the humongous crater they were climbing up. "And so gloomy? These stupid rocks are hurting my feet! Not to mention scuffing up my new boots!"_

"_It sure as hell ain't quiet an'where yer at, ya annoying kid!" Cid growled from somewhere behind her. He was obviously having a few minor difficulties climbing up the side of the crater. He then murmured something that sounded remarkably like, "brat!"_

_Yuffie rolled her eyes, a tinge of anger in the pit of her stomach. But she shrugged it off, choosing instead to simply use that feeling as fuel to aim at Sephiroth later. _

_Whenever later was._

_Yuffie glanced ahead of where all of Avalanche was to find Cloud by himself, looking down at something in his hand. Yuffie Kisaragi, being the curious ninja she was known to be, quickened her pace a bit so she could catch up to him before anyone else did._

"_What's that?" she asked Cloud about the object in his hand once she reached him._

_He held it out for her to see. "Just a rock."_

"_Why are you staring at a rock, Chocobo-head?"_

_The blond mercenary just shrugged. "Just thinking."_

"_About what?" Yuffie pressed. When he didn't reply, she quickly added, "Come on! No one stares at a dumb rock, thinking about nothing!" She crossed her arms. "Tell me!"_

"_You were complaining about rocks a minute ago."_

_Yuffie nodded. "Yeah. And?" _

_What was up with him?_

_He shrugged again. "I don't mind rocks. The gray ones, I mean."_

_Yuffie's brow furrowed. "Why?"_

_Cloud tilted his head to the side slightly. "Rocks are solid. Stable. Secure. And to me…gray represents the same thing." He straightened his head to stare directly into Yuffie's gray-blue eyes. "Even though…sometimes it means sadness."_

_The ninja blinked a few times. Why was he staring straight into her eyes like that!?_

_He finally looked away, dropping the rock to the ground just as everyone else caught up to them. "But mostly…I like to think of gray…as maturity overcoming the sadness and pain." _

_He glanced at her one more time before heading off to lead the way into the deep, dark cave._

_Yuffie's feet were rooted to the spot. She reached her hand to her cheeks, feeling them burning up like crazy._

"_You coming, Yuff?" She heard Tifa call from somewhere ahead._

"_Y-Yeah!"_

_It took weeks for her cheeks to finally feel like they weren't on fire whenever Cloud was near her._

**XxXxX**

Yuffie blinked a few times, exhaling a huge sigh of relief. Cloud hadn't asked how she knew _gray _was his favorite color. He simply asked how she knew _blue _was _not _his favorite color.

Whew. She was safe. He didn't seem to remember that specific part of the fateful day. And she was grateful for that. The look he gave her before dropping that dumb rock still gave her chills just thinking about it. But she kinda liked those chills. They made her feel hyper-energetic, but mature…at the same time.

"Yeah, we can play another game!" Yuffie's stomach chose that moment to growl its intense anger at being neglected for several hours. "But can we eat first?"

Cloud simply nodded. "Sure." His faced visibly reddened when he had to reach a hand down to his stomach in an attempt to quiet the growls that were resounding from within.

Yuffie couldn't stop herself from laughing.

But she was surprised to hear Cloud joining her in laughter. Albeit it was much softer, masculine, and _sexy _(did she just think that?).

She started to laugh even harder than before.

**XxXxX**

**Major Notes: **

I AM SO SORRY FOR THE SUPER-DUPER-MAJOR DELAY OF THIS CHAPTER.

FORGIVE?… AND REVIEW?

Also, I think the name Fifi is kinda cute, so if that's anyone's name out there, please don't be offended. Yuffie has her reasons for liking (and disliking) certain things. ;D

**Random thoughts:**

I was on the ffvii website for the ps1 game a while ago, and it said that Yuffie's age was 19! I thought she was 16 during that game…so I was confuzzled. Maybe it was just a typo. Or maybe I just completely read it wrong. Who knows.

ALSO, has anyone ever wondered what it would be like if Yuffie had her own video game? That would be so cool and I would DEFINITELY buy it!

**Ahem…anyway.**

Thanks for reading!!! I WILL get the next chapter out soon.

So pweeeze, don't lose faith in me! =3


	7. Getting Down to Business

_7. Getting Down to Business_

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

She was running late. She never ran late. At least not that he could remember. And he had a pretty damn good memory. If he could say so himself, that is.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

He wondered where on Gaia she could possibly be. A few more seconds and…ah! It'd been exactly an hour since he'd arrived at La Grande Nourriture, his favorite restaurant to take the woman he loved to for dinner.

_... _

He kept strumming his fingers against the smooth wood of the table. He was beginning to feel more and more apprehensive with every strum of his fingers. What could be causing Tifa to run so incredibly late?

_Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap---_

Suddenly, a beautiful brunette walked through the main doors, wind whipping her hair into her face and flushing her cheeks as she made her way inside the restaurant. She brushed the dark hair out of her face, and that was when he noticed the expression on her face.

"Tifa, are you alright?" Reeve immediately stood from his seat when he saw her rush in his direction, visibly distraught. "Has something happened?"

The barmaid just shook her head a few times, taking off her jacket to reveal a stunning royal blue dress underneath. Reeve couldn't control his quickened pace when he saw how beautiful the woman he loved looked at that moment. Well, he knew she always looked beautiful, but he was fine with thinking that she looked _extra _beautiful tonight. It made him feel special to see that she dressed herself up to go out to dinner with _him_.

Tifa draped her jacket across her chair before finally taking a seat.

"Say something, Tifa," Reeve said calmly. "Please." He was starting to get a bit worried. And a bit crazy. Luckily, his voice didn't betray that fact.

"It's Reno," she finally voiced, her burgundy orbs flickering down to the silverware in front of her.

"Reno?" His eyes widened. "What's Reno!? What are you talking about?" His blood was starting to boil. If that redheaded idiot touched her in any indecent way, he was going to---

"Relax, Reeve," Tifa soothed, a small smile on her face. "Don't get yourself all worked up. I just... he... earlier today he came into the bar. But he wasn't very happy."

The WRO Commissioner felt like a bit of an idiot after hearing such a simple explanation. He tried to shrug the feeling away as he nodded slowly, rubbing his goatee. "Oh. Right. Yes. I suppose I have noticed that he's been in a rather shitty mood every since Yuffie left for-"

"That's exactly the point," Tifa said with pleading eyes. "Ever since _Yuffie _left!" She sighed desperately.

Reeve's eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure if I get what you mean, dear."

Tifa face-palmed, letting out a huge sigh. "Oh, Reeve. Sometimes it amazes me how you are such an intelligent man when it comes to technology and foreign matters," she picked her spoon and twirled it between her fingers, "but so stupid when it comes to certain matters of the heart."

"Hey!" Reeve exclaimed, an obvious frown starting to form on his face. "I resent that comment."

Tifa shrugged. "Oh, Reeve. You know I'm in love with you and nothing could ever change that! You're just a little thick-headed sometimes."

Reeve shook his head, sighing. "Well…maybe you're right. I don't know." He folded his hands together to rest on top of the table as he leaned a bit closer to his love. "Though, would you care to finish explaining the whole situation regarding Reno? I'm afraid you've lost me."

"I know," Tifa laughed. "Well, like I said, Reno was really unhappy when he showed up at the bar today. He was trying to hide it, I think, but he did a really bad job."

"And you think he's unhappy because…Yuffie isn't here?" Reeve inputted, one brow cocked.

"Not just that," Tifa corrected with a chagrinned smile. "She's on a mission with someone other than him. And not only _that_," she dropped her spoon onto the table with a loud _clack, _"but the person she's on the mission with is Cloud Strife."

"Reno's jealous?" Reeve thought aloud. "How bizarre. I was under the impression that Reno and Yuffie hated each other." He tapped his chin in serious contemplation.

Tifa rolled her eyes. "They have a weird dynamic going on in their 'relationship.'" She put air-quotes around the last word. "They're barely friends…but I feel like Reno thinks about her more than he cares to admit."

"You may be right, my dear. Just the other day, he was complaining about Yuffie and Cloud's mission to Rufus Shinra," Reeve commented with a shake of his head.

Tifa's jaw dropped. "He went as far as to complain to Rufus Shinra!?"

Reeve simply nodded.

"This _is _worse than I thought," Tifa thought aloud. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to try to set Cloud and Yuffie up by pushing them together for this mission…"

"Oh, don't think like that," Reeve stated with a flick of his wrist. "You and I both know that this is going to work out. Yuffie needs a man to take care of her, even though she'd never admit she so much as _thinks _about things like that." He let out a small laugh. "And Cloud? Let's face it. Cloud needs someone to help get his shit straight. Yuffie is that person, I believe."

Tifa nodded. "I felt the same way, but now…I don't know. I just feel like this is going to end badly. What if Reno is in love with Yuffie or something crazy like that?"

Reeve shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know what would happen, Teef. We would have to simply let it play out and wait for the end result. There is nothing more we can do."

"Yeah," she sighed. "You're right." She suddenly reached over to grab one of the menus from the middle of their small table. "But you know what we _can _do?"

"What's that?" Reeve asked with a smile lining his features.

"Order our food," Tifa stated as she flipped open the menu. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving!"

Reeve laughed softly, reaching over to grab his own menu. "I am too, dear."

**XxXxX**

"Uuuggggh!"

Yuffie fell backwards from her seated position on the ground, clutching her stomach in pain. "I am soooo full!! How could that instant-stuff be so filling!?"

Cloud glanced over at her with a shrug.

"Where did you get that stuff from? It was AMAZING!" Yuffie pounded both arms into the air in a triumphant motion. "I would eat more, but I'm afraid that if I do, I'll explode into tons of disgusting ninja pieces." Her arms dropped back onto the ground. "You probably wouldn't like that too much. It would get in your hair."

Cloud smirked. "Because having stuff in my hair would be my primary concern when you explode."

"Of course!" Yuffie laughed, followed by a loud groan. "Urrrk. Sooo fullll!!"

"You're fine," Cloud stated, glancing over at her awkward position again.

The ninja was on her back, but her legs were still crossed, Indian-style, and at that point, she had both arms over her face as well. "Yeah, right," she muttered.

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Did you still want to play another game?" he asked. "Or are you going to fall asleep right there?"

Suddenly, Yuffie bolted right up. "Uh, no way! I'm not sleeping without a blanket!"

Since Cloud had asked about the game, did that mean that he actually had an interest in continuing it with her? She definitely had fun with the last one…mainly because she realized that she was finally starting to get the stoic warrior to talk more, joke more…basically open up a whole hell of a lot more.

Yeah, she was a bit proud of herself. Who wouldn't feel that way? She had every right to be!

"You're going to sleep right now, then?" Cloud asked with a smirk.

"Nooo! Hand me a freakin' blanket and we can do something else before we both get too tired," she whined, both arms still keeping her face from view.

"Please," Cloud said.

"You don't have to be so well-mannered with me, Cloudy!" Yuffie snorted when he threw the warm blanket towards her. "I know I'm a princess from a faraway land, but-"

"I was telling you to say please," he cut her off, shaking his head slowly.

"Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. I know, Cloudy. Take a joke!" She laughed as she sat up, wrapping the fuzzy warm blanket around herself. "And lighten up."

"I can take a joke, Yuffie," he stated casually as he continued to look through his knapsack. "It just has to be a good joke." Suddenly, his brow furrowed.

"What's up, Spikes?" She reached up to untie her headband and take it off from around her forehead, placing it on top of the collection of weapons that lay a few feet away. Gawd, her head felt so much better after finally taking it off. Maybe she had put it on too tight the last time. "Whatcha looking for?"

Cloud spared her a quick glance before his eyes darted back to the knapsack. But then he did a double-take. "You look different without your…uh, nevermind," he said as his brow furrowed. He continued to stare at her.

Yuffie tried to ignore the weird feeling that was building up in her tummy with the look he was giving her. She cleared her throat. "You never answered my question, Chocobo-butt."

The blond broke eye-contact with her, shaking his head a few times. "Right. Sorry." He threw the knapsack a few feet away, a look of disappointment on his face. "The other blanket's not in there."

All the color drained from the ninja's face.

Cloud instantly mistook her reaction and tried to placate her. "It's fine. I can sleep without one. You need it more than I do anyway." He shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest in a nonchalant manner.

The color returned to the ninja's face, her cheeks specifically. "Was that a sexist comment I just heard, you jerk?"

Cloud's brow furrowed again. "What?"

"You don't need a blanket as much as I do? Face it, Cloud!" she yelled, pointing at his gooseflesh-stricken arms. "You're just as cold as I am! If not, more so!!"

"You don't have to make things so difficult, Yuffie," he said with an eye-roll. "Just keep the blanket."

Yuffie stood up, one hand on her hip and the other hand tightly gripping the object of their argument. "We're gonna share and you're gonna deal with it!" She really wished her face hadn't chosen that moment to start to turn a bit red. She shook her head a few times with a loud huff, then walked over to sit down next to Cloud. She leaned over him for a moment so she could drape the blanket over his legs as much as possible. "There. See how much better that is _already_?"

She did notice that it was already warmer. But a major component could be the fact that it felt like her whole body was burning up from embarrassment. She really wished she didn't get embarrassed so easily. No one knew, and no one could _ever _tell when she felt that way, but the truth was…she got embarrassed a lot.

Anyway...maybe she didn't feel cold anymore because she had Cloud's body right next to hers, radiating an almost comforting warmth to shield both of them?

She sighed.

As long as she wasn't cold, she wouldn't complain. Hopefully he felt the same way about it.

**XxXxX**

"So…you still wanna play a game?" He heard Yuffie ask a few moments after she defiantly plopped down next to him, embracing him with the heat of her blanket…and the close proximity of her body.

He cleared his throat.

Cloud would never admit it, but he was relieved that Yuffie wanted to share the blanket with him. It was extremely difficult to understand, but this forest seemed to drop in temperature to what felt like the freezing levels of the Northern Continent. And that was definitely saying something. He hadn't felt that cold in a _very _long time.

"Sure," he replied evenly, choosing to stare at the slowly dying flames of the fire in front of them.

Yuffie nodded, reaching back to grab one of the small pillows that Cloud had gotten out earlier, and then she fell backwards on top of it. "Kay. Let me think of one real quick…" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her shift around for a few moments, obviously trying to find a comfortable spot. Then she sighed. "Alrighty, how 'bout we just ask 'what would you do' questions?"

Cloud's brow furrowed. Why did these mind games _have _to be about getting to know each other better? Hadn't he shared enough about himself earlier?

The sound of her soft laugh caused his train of thought to dissipate. "What's so funny?" he asked, turning his body to look at her smiling face.

She shook her head. "Oh, nothing. You just had a funny look on her face is all. Thinking too hard there, Cloudy? Nyuk."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to play or not?"

"Yeah, geez. Don't be so touchy!" She laughed again. "But would ya lay down first? You're letting all the cold air in." He heard her teeth start to chatter together softly.

He was convinced that hearing her shiver was the only reason he agreed to the pushy suggestion. Otherwise he would've stayed seated for as long as he wanted, mainly to just watch the fire die out. He grabbed his own tiny pillow, leaning backwards to rest his spiky head of hair on top of it.

When he noticed the last light of the fire go out, he stomach dropped a little bit. He had a feeling that it was going to get a lot colder than it already was.

_Damn._

"Oh, no!" Yuffie suddenly exclaimed.

Cloud sighed. She must've noticed the same thing.

"Now it's really dark _and _cold," she murmured from next to him. Her teeth were still chattering together, a bit more loudly at that point.

"Do you ever stop complaining?" he asked, glancing over to see her small form, facing away from him and huddled up into a compact ball under the minimal amount of blanket that she had. He shook his head, letting out a huge sigh before making the decision to scoot a little closer to her.

Just so she wouldn't be as cold.

"W-What are you d-doing!?" she exclaimed when she felt the side of his body make contact with her back.

"You're cold," he stated matter-of-factly. "Just…Yuffie. Turn around."

Yuffie froze for a second. But then she slowly obeyed his command, releasing her grip on her lengthy legs and twisting around to face him. "W-Why?" she asked in a whisper.

Cloud lightly grabbed her hand, placing it over her chest. "That's the core of your body heat. Direct it at me." He nodded at his own chest. "And I direct mine towards you. And hopefully we don't freeze to death," he added with a small trace of sarcasm.

Yuffie nodded, her chin still quivering from the cold. She blinked a few times, glancing up at him with shiny gray-blue eyes. He wondered why she seemed like she was nervous.

"Okay." Her voice sounded shaky. "What would you do if Sephiroth came back to life? Again."

What?

Oh. Right.

The game she was talking about earlier.

"I would fight him. Again," he replied without much thought.

Yuffie bit her lip. "Hmm. Well, what would you do if he came back as a good guy?"

"I wouldn't believe it." Cloud shook his head slowly. "I would fight him. Again."

The ninja laughed. "Yeah, I guess I wouldn't believe it either. Okay. Y-Your turn." With every breath she took, Cloud felt himself warming up. She was so close…he could practically taste the lilac and vanilla scent wafting up at him from her small body.

His brow furrowed. Did he really just notice how good Yuffie _smelled_? The cold must be seriously getting to him.

"What would you do…if you had a million gil?" Cloud asked, looking down at her to notice that she had closed her eyes. "Yuffie?"

"I heard you," she replied, eyes still shut. "That's a dumb question, Spikes. I have millions of gil back in Wutai, and you already know what I _did_! I ran away, stole materia, met you guys, helped saved the world tons o' times, and the rest is history."

Cloud was taken-aback. He always seemed to forget that Yuffie was _royalty _back in Wutai. Even though she hardly acted like it. "Oh. Then what would you do if you didn't have any gil?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I would probably do the same thing." She yawned. "Gil isn't that important to me. I _do _love materia though," she added with a small smirk.

He felt a small smile tug at the corner of his lips. "Yeah, I know."

"Nyuk. O' course ya do." She seemed to unconsciously shift even closer to the blond than she was before. "Ummm...if you had three wishes, what would you do with them?"

Cloud's brow furrowed. "I...would give them to someone else." Then, he slowly shook his head. "Someone who deserves them," he finished.

Yuffie's eyes snapped open to glare at him. "Why do you say that, Cloud? Who's to judge the worthiness of having three wishes?" She let out a small, but indignant huff. "You're worthy to me...don't you remember the whole 'Hi, I'm Cloud and I've saved the world tons of times' thingy?"

"It doesn't matter," Cloud deadpanned, looking anywhere but at Yuffie and trying to ignore the weird feeling in the pit of his stomach from Yuffie's kind words. "I've had my chance...it...it just...doesn't matter. Not now."

"You're such an idiot, Spikes. Ya know that?" Yuffie said in a small voice, closing her eyes again.

Sometimes, he felt like he knew that more than anyone else. He smirked, but didn't reply. Leave it to Yuffie to bluntly state the obvious.

"What would you do with three wishes, Yuffie?" he found his lips forming the question before he even had control over them.

The petite ninja made a contemplative noise. "I...I would wish for Wutai to be like it used to be. And for Vinnie to stop angsting all the time so he can get over his stupid guilt." She paused for what felt like an eternity. "And for...Aerith to be alive again."

Cloud's eyes widened. The pure sadness and want in the ninja's voice was a bit hard to bear. He had never heard her talk like this before. Well, other than when she spoke of her mother earlier on in the night.

"Are you in love with Tifa?" He heard Yuffie ask before he even had the chance to say something in reply to her answer.

He balked. Were they still even playing the _game_? What kind of a question was that?

"What?" He tried to gauge her reaction, but she wasn't moving an inch. "Yuffie."

"Come on…ya gotta answer m' question, stu…pid," she said in a slow, soft voice. Her eyes were still closed. It seemed as though she was practically asleep.

"Tifa's a...great friend," Cloud found himself answering, even though he was curious as to why the ninja had asked a question like that. "She always has been. But I don't feel that way for her." He shook his head.

Yuffie nodded slowly. "Mmm. Ha...ve you e...ver been in love...at all?" she drawled sleepily.

Cloud didn't reply. The sound of Yuffie's voice had triggered something in him. He wasn't sure what it was, but it left him confused and slightly...well he just didn't know.

He sighed. Had he ever been in love? He contemplated the thought as he gazed down at the serene expression on Yuffie's face. Well...there was Aerith, he thought. She was a woman who epitomized the words _perfect _and _woman_. But was he _in _love with her? Or was it simply a close bond?

… … … … …

Yes, Cloud had loved Aerith.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he loved Aerith...as a friend. Nothing more.

"No," he finally voiced. "I haven't." He tilted his head as he continued to stare down at Yuffie's half-asleep state. "Have you?"

"Nnnnot sure y...et. Mmay..beh?"

His brow furrowed, but he nodded, deciding to leave it at that.

"What would…" Cloud paused when a sudden thought came to mind. "What…what's your favorite color, Yuffie?"

"'snot how the game works," she mumbled into his chest.

Why couldn't he ask that? Yuffie had just bent the rules for herself a minute ago. He should be able to do the same thing. "Just answer the question, Yuffie." What confused him the most was that he actually _wanted _to know what her favorite color was.

"…green."

Another thought came to mind, his eyes widening. "…how did you know gray was my favorite color? Earlier…I only said something about blue."

"Mmmfffoghaayy…"

Cloud smirked. It was definitely amusing to see Yuffie half-asleep like this. He was so used to seeing her hyperactivity, hearing her loud voice, and dealing with her temper. This Yuffie…seemed vulnerable. And docile even. It left him with a strange feeling in his chest. A feeling to…protect her?

"I can't hear you, Yuffie," he murmured, closing his eyes as well.

"…tol' m…on th…Seph…oth…" It seemed as though that was the most he was going to get out of her. With a soft snore, it had seemed like she had just fallen asleep.

All that he could comprehend from what he heard was _Sephiroth. _What was that supposed to mean? He liked gray because it was the color of Sephiroth's hair? No. That made absolutely no sense. His hair was silver, wasn't it? That's different than gray. But he was sure that he heard Sephiroth's name escape her lips.

His thoughts were starting to lose their rational sense of direction, and he found himself getting more and more tired by the second.

With a soft yawn, he fell asleep.

**XxXxX**

This was the most comfortable she'd been in a long time. She didn't know where she was or what was even going on. She felt warm. And snuggly. And protected. All that mattered was the pure comfort and warmth coming from…

Her eyes snapped open. She was staring directly at the chest of Cloud Strife. A _sleeping _Cloud Strife. A sleeping Cloud Strife that actually looked quite vulnerable and adorable when…

"Ah, bad thoughts. _Stop!_" she whisper-yelled at herself, slapping her hands to her forehead. That was when she noticed that there was something resting on the side of her hip. She slowly glanced down, and her jaw dropped when she saw what it was.

_Cloud's arm!?!?_

Cloud was resting his entire left arm over Yuffie's hip, in an almost comforting gesture. Well, it _did _made her feel comfortable. But it also made her feel incredibly nervous. And her face kind of felt like it was going to explode. What if Cloud woke up and was angry about Yuffie's close proximity?

… … … … …

She decided that she wasn't about to find out. She quickly detached herself from him, standing up and bolting away from their makeshift campsite to catch her breath and cool her face off.

And to find somewhere to go to the bathroom, she suddenly decided. She hadn't gone since early yesterday morning. How had she held it that long? Sometimes she wondered...

Her thoughts slowly but surely drifted back to Cloud.

She really hoped that she hadn't crossed a line or anything like that last night. Yes, she was half-asleep and somewhat delirious while they were talking, but hopefully she didn't say or ask something that made him feel uncomfortable.

If she'd ruined the friendship she had with Cloud...she would _never_ forgive herself.

**XxXxX**

Cloud shifted uneasily when he heard a rustling of leaves. His eyes snapped open immediately...then they widened when he realized that there was an empty spot next to him. Yuffie was no where to be found. He sat up straight and did a quick perimeter check.

_Where is she?_

He stood up, brushing dirt off his pants and trying to remain calm. Yuffie was probably just wandering around.

...

Which was actually an incredibly _stupid_ thing to do, considering that there was an unknown number of monsters in this forest, apparently all out for blood. Yuffie could get hurt out there all by herself.

_Damn it._

Now he was starting to lost a bit of his level-headedness. He was going to have to go look for her very soon. Before something bad could happen.

_If she doesn't show up in---_

"Good morning, sunshine!!!" a shrill shout echoed from somewhere behind him. He whipped around and was greeted with a blindingly white smile and innocent eyes. "Nyuk. You don't seem like a morning person, eh?"

Cloud crossed his arms and took on an angry stance. "Where were you?"

Yuffie cocked her head to the side. "Why does it matter where I was? I'm back now." She shrugged. "No big dealio."

Cloud took a few steps closer to her. "It _is _a big deal, Yuffie. Remember why we're here?" She nodded. "You could have encountered one of those monsters."

Yuffie shrugged again, this time with more noticeable nonchalance. "Well, I didn't. And if I had, I could have taken c-"

"No, you couldn't have taken care of yourself," he cut her off quickly, walking over to their pile of weapons. "You didn't have anything to defend yourself with." He pointed down at the pile emphatically. Her trademark weapon was right on top.

The ninja crossed her arms angrily, refusing to back down. "I still would have been just fine! GAWD, you are such an ASSHOLE! Why do you always have to be like that!?!?" She took a few steps closer to him, her hands shaky with anger.

"I'm an asshole for caring about whether or not you're safe?" he found himself shouting back before he could even stop himself.

Yuffie's arms fell to either side as her mouth opened a little bit. "W-What...did you just say!?"

Cloud put his hand to his head tiredly. "It doesn't matter! I---"

A sudden growling noise echoed around them. Yuffie bit her lip nervously. "Was that your stomach? 'Cause it definitely wasn't mine."

The blond just shook his head, bending over to pick up his sword as apprehension closed in on him. "Looks like we have a visitor," he stated calmly as he nodded towards the area behind Yuffie.

She immediately spun around to nearly come face to face with the monster they had seen the day before. "Oh, gawd..."

"Yuffie, don't move," Cloud warned in a stern voice.

"Like I'm gonna go anywhere," she whisper-yelled back to him. "It'll eat me if I move an _inch_, ya idiot!"

A huge lump started to form in Cloud's throat. How was he going to get rid of that creature without risking Yuffie's safety? It was closer to Yuffie than to him. So if he made a move to strike, it would most likely try to harm Yuffie. He couldn't take that chance.

_Damn it, _he mentally cursed for the second time in less than five minutes.

"Yuffie. I can't fight when you're right in front of it," Cloud stated.

"No _duh_, Spikes!" she whispered back, clenching her hands into fists.

"I need you to slowly walk backwards. Away from it," he continued as though Yuffie hadn't said a thing. "_Slowly._"

"I don't think that's gonna work, Cloud," Yuffie retorted.

"Why not?" Cloud tried to keep his voice level and calm. He really wanted to shout at Yuffie for being so difficult, though. "Just do it."

"No!" Yuffie shouted. "Cloud...just...look at it."

Cloud slowly straightened into his normal stance. He stared at the monster. "What is it...doing?" he thought aloud.

"I don't know," the ninja whispered as she continued to gape at the horrid creature in front of her.

It was interesting, to say the least. The monster was growling at them a moment ago, but now it was staring at each of them curiously. What had brought about that sudden change? Cloud had no idea whatsoever.

Cloud took a few steps forward, and to his complete surprise, it was enough to cause the monster to dart, disappearing deep into the forest again. A few moments passed...and Cloud finally felt like he could breathe again.

He heard Yuffie let out a huge sigh. "Well. That was close."

Cloud couldn't help but to snort in response. "That would be putting it lightly."

Yuffie turned around, hands on her hips. "I'm still mad at you. Just so you know." She huffed, brushing her hair out of her face and starting to pick up all of her things that were scattered around the campsite. "_Jerk,_" she muttered.

He simply rolled his eyes in response, following her lead and picking up all of his things as well. After a few more minutes, they were good to go.

"Cloud...?" Yuffie suddenly voiced.

"Hn?"

"Can...can we go back to Dera? For today, I mean. I don't want to sleep in the forest again," she shuddered. "It got so cold last night...and I...I think we might get more leads if we go back to the village again." She shrugged. "We can get to the bottom of this. I know we can."

Cloud nodded. At that precise moment, he felt like he had never agreed with Yuffie more. "Yeah. Let's go."

They made it back to Dera in a little under two hours. And they didn't speak the entire time.

**XxXxX**

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	8. Honeymoon Rituals

_8: Honeymoon Rituals_

Feeling eyes on her back, Yuffie glanced behind her. She decided to break the awkward silence that had been going on since it had manifested earlier that morning in the forest. "Spiky, what do you think you're staring at?" she remarked in what she hoped was a nonchalant tone.

He shook his head slowly, looking anywhere but at her face. "Nothing. Just following you, Yuffie."

"I get to lead the way for once," Yuffie stated in feigned shock before letting a small yawn out. "Whadda day! I feel so special, nyuk nyuk nyuk. Who knew that Chocobo-butt would ever let someone else have the leader job thingy?" She chuckled to herself. "I finally get to say, _'Let's mosey!' _Nyuk."

Cloud rolled his eyes tiredly. "Make up your mind on where to look. You said you wanted to play detective today. So do it." He crossed his arms.

"Geez, someone is still super sassy today. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the ground?" Yuffie mocked the ex-Soldier by crossing her arms over her small chest as well, only with an offended look on her face to boot. "Or did peeing your pants after seeing that monster put you in a shitty mood?"

"I did not pee my pants," Cloud said, finally looking at her with unreadable eyes.

The Great Ninja did her infamous I-am-turning-my-back-on-you-right-now-because-I-could-care-less-about-what-you-have-to-say twirl. "Okay, well I think we should head to the butcher house. I remember Kent saying that it was the only place that had any suspicious activity goin' on, so that's our best bet for now." She glanced back at Cloud for a millisecond. "There was some type of break-in with only the raw meat as the victim, or something like that… Right?"

"You're right. Good idea," the blond remarked casually with a curt nud, taking a few larger strides to walk side by side with the young ninja. "I was thinking the same thing."

"'Course ya were, _Cam_," Yuffie smirked. "Cuz we honeymooners have ESP and all that." She rolled her eyes again, increasing her speed to make it harder for Cloud, er _Cam_, to keep up. Too bad his legs were longer than hers. It made it simple for him to walk ahead of her instead.

_Damn. The Great Ninja Yuffie is no follower!_

Not that she minded watching Cloud from behi_**– **_

"Slow down, Chocobo-butt."

"For the last time, don't call me that."

"Make me, _Cam_."

Cloud sighed, closing his eyes for a few seconds while they continued to walk. "You are…" he trailed off, but Yuffie could have sworn she heard a word in his mumbling that sounded like the word _different._

Yeah, so she was different. Didn't everyone on Gaia already know that? There wasn't another person on the globe like the Great Ninja and the Single White Rose of Wutai. Yuffie Kisaragi was one-of-a-kind. It was truly a wonderful and splendiferous thing!

Er, well…at least she liked to think so.

Did Cloud think different was a _bad _thing? An insult? A negative quality? Annoying? A detriment to his stride? Well, shoot. Wouldn't someone like Cloud rather be around a kind a girl who_**–**_?

"Here's the butcher house," Cloud's sudden comment broke into her reveries. They both stared the place down, trying their best to get a feel for it before walking in casually. It was a shabby gray building, with dilapidated sidings by the windows and a rusted metal front door. Not exactly a place Yuffie felt like walking into, but whatever. This was all part of the mission! And she had sexy Cloud here to back her u_**–––**_ugggh! Why had she been saying _Cloud _and _sexy _in the same sentence in her mind so much lately?

It was so frustrating.

**XxXxX**

Cloud glanced at the run-down building, trying not to show on his emotionless face how much he'd rather be taking a nap at the inn. All that walking from the forest to the Dera village earlier that morning was…well, it was tiring to say the least. They had been moving so quickly. And for some reason, the awkward resonating silence that was surrounding Yuffie and him during that walk was not too comfortable.

"Ready?" he glanced over at the small ninja to see that she looked as tired as he felt.

His companion gave a quick eye-roll before nodding. "As I'll ever be, Spikes. Let's _mosey_." She galloped towards the front door before letting herself in, leaving Cloud standing outside by himself.

He simply shook his head. "Alright, then." As he walked inside, he noticed many things. For one, the place reeked of blood. But not the blood most people would immediately think of. It was just the raw meat. Cloud's nose, as well as all his other senses, were so much stronger than those of a normal person, so the stench was obvious to him.

So obviously, the powerful stench mixed with his steadily deepening exhaustion started to give him a headache. His blond eyebrows knotted together from the beginnings of the dull tension in his temples.

"You okay, Cloudy?" Yuffie asked with what sounded like a trace of _care _in her voice.

He simply nodded. They explored the whole place, looking through crates, opening drawers at the front desk, and perusing through old paperwork. "Yuffie. Read this."

She sauntered over, looking interested. "Hmm." She read it aloud slowly. "_"On the night of 17 February, _– Hey, that was a few weeks ago!" Yuffie interjected with enthusiasm. Cloud sighed. He had already known that certain tidbit of information. She continued, _"Fifty pounds of raw meat were stolen. There was no sign of a break-in, and no money was stolen from the money crate. The only piece of evidence was a set of prints from the front entrance into the back room. The prints were covered with dried muck. They were half the size of the average person's foot, but double the width. No further investigation is occurring at the moment due to lack of evidence and time."_"

"I don't understand why they don't have time," Cloud wondered aloud. He crossed his arms over his chest and started to think_**–**_

"Didn't you know that when they say something about _time _like that in a write-up, it only means that they don't care enough and don't have sufficient evidence to keep investigating? I've read that in tons of Reno's reports. Nyuk, it's common knowledge at the WRO headquarters, I woulda thought you'd know that, Chocobo-brain," Yuffie guffawed arrogantly.

He just shook his head in annoyance. Did she forget that he barely ever took any of Reeve's missions? "If they don't care, then why are we here_**–**_"

"WHATCHU DOIN'!" a loud voice suddenly exclaimed from the front door.

They both whirled around to discover a burly man with a dirty white apron at the entrance. He looked ticked off and confused, and was eying the two of them down. Cloud, taking a step forward, opened his mouth to make a quick excuse, but Yuffie beat him to the punch.

"Oh, hi! We thought this was a restaurant?" She skipped away from Cloud towards the butcher; she seemed to ignore the obvious glare he was sending her way. "We know Dera has the finest meat in all of Gaia because it's always prepared by a _really _really talented butcher_**–**_"

Cloud exhaled a sigh of relief. He guessed she wasn't in charge of espionage and intelligence gathering at the WRO for nothing. She could really be pragmatic when she needed to be.

For a mission, that is.

"Aw, shucks. Y'all are too kind," The big man was now blushing as he walked towards them with a small smile on his face. "But this 'ere is just the butcher _house. _I sell meat but no one ain't gon' eat no meat in here." He looked around and scratched his nose. "It ain't exactly the best place to dine, y'all." Realization dawned in the butcher's eyes. "Oh, I know who y'are!"

Cloud and Yuffie exchanged a look. "You do?" the mercenary carefully asked. If their cover was blown, he was never going to let Yuffie live it down.

The butcher nodded happily. "Yep, I shure do! Y'all are the honeymooners Kent was talkin' bout!"

The ex-Soldier exhaled a sigh of relief. They were still safe.

"Kent sure talks about us a lot, doesn't he," Yuffie murmured to Cloud. He nodded in agreement, taking a step forward and placing his arm around Yuffie's shoulders. Might as well make it seem more legitimate, he figured.

"Yeah," Cloud stated with a fake smile. "That's us." He felt the small ninja stiffen next to him. He wondered why.

The butcher looked pleased with himself as he continued to look at the two of them. "Well, I'll be darned! You two are th' danged cutest honeymooners we've ever had 'ere in Dera!"

"They actually have honeymooners come here?" Yuffie whispered quietly to Cloud who merely shrugged. She stiffened further.

"So you excited for the celebration tom'rrow then?" the man asked excitedly.

Yuffie and Cloud shared another look, this time more confused than before. "Celebration?" they both asked.

He nodded happily. "It's a tradition 'ere in Dera, don'tcha know!" He clapped his hands, then rubbed them together energetically. "It's where the newlyweds spend the day finding _one _gift for each other that represents the way they feel about each other. It ain't usually somethin' ya buy…more of a special object actually." He nodded to himself. "Then there's a celebration in the Village Square!"

"Oh, gawd," Yuffie groaned uncomfortably. "You have to be kidding me."

"Excitin', isn't it! I kin tell how y'all burstin' with excitement!" he shouted enthusiastically. He approached the 'couple' and clapped them on their shoulders. "Yeh best be gettin' back to the Lodge. It's gon' be a long day for y'all tom'rrow and yeh need rest, heh heh."

He ushered the honeymooners out of his butcher house, leaving them standing at the front entrance completely baffled.

"This sucks. Now how are we supposed to get to the bottom of the monster problem?" Yuffie kicked a clod of dirt with her foot.

"So much for the brilliant undercover identities," Cloud stated as he started to walk back towards Shadow Lodge. "Everyone in Dera knows us as the newlyweds now."

"Shut up, Cloud," she retorted with a small pout, crossing her arms over her small chest.

The sun was setting over the village as they continued to walk, leaving the sky painted with beautiful shades of indigo, rose, and orange. Cloud smiled at the sight. Dera really was something special. Different. The only other time he had seen the sky look this spectacular when Avalanche spent the night in Cosmo Canyon. The memory brought chills down his spine.

Too many ghosts, he thought to himself.

He glanced over at Yuffie.

He supposed she was considered one of those ghosts.

"_I knew you'd guys would want me around. We woulda never made it to Cosmo Canyon without my awesome ninja skills, nyuk nyuk nyuk!" Yuffie had said by the bonfire, five years ago. No one had chosen to reply to her. She had looked across the bonfire at Cloud, smiling genuinely. She had seemed almost grateful for that second. But before he could even think about it, a mischievous smirk reappeared as she kept talking, "We better be goin' somewhere cool after this! I wanna go find materia!"_

Cloud smiled to himself at the memory. He couldn't get over how some things just never changed.

The pair wordlessly made their way back into Room 3 in the Lodge. They quietly said goodnight to each other, and promptly passed out within five minutes. Yes, Cloud had fallen asleep without a struggle yet again.

**XxXxX**

"This is just stupid," he murmured to himself as he flicked on all the correct switches. "Damn ninja." He moved his favorite goggles down over his eyes. "I need to see this shit for myself," Reno stated.

The company van took off from the Shinra Headquarters' Motopad. It headed southeast.

"It's shit that I have to do it in a van, though," he cursed to himself as he gripped the wheel with unnecessary force.

**XxXxX**

Yuffie sighed to herself for the fifth time since she had woken up that morning. She didn't know what to do. Gawd, what kind of gift would Chocobo-brain McCloudy actually care for that he didn't already have or need?

They had decided to each look for a "gift" by themselves, and once they found it, they were to meet back at Shadow Lodge. It'd been two hours since they had temporarily parted ways after breakfast and Yuffie still had no idea what to get for him. Er _**– **__find_, rather. It wasn't supposed to be a gift that could be purchased anywhere, the butcher had said the day before. So maybe if Yuffie were to just _**– **_

"AHHH!" Yuffie the Great Ninja of Wutai was covered in dirt. She had just tripped ungracefully over a stupid…_rock? _The ninja crawled over to the culprit, not caring that almost ever inch of her had dirt on it a that point. Tilting her head, she stared at the offending object.

It was gray.

It fit right into the palm of her hand.

…she gasped dramatically. "It's shaped like a chocobo's head, nyuk! I just found my thingymajig. Whoo hoo! WHOO HOO!" She jumped into the air and started pumping the rock in her fist up in the air, over and over again while she made strange noises and continued to ignore curious looks that were being sent in her direction.

_Perfect! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk._ "Wonder what bird-brain found for me…"

**XxXxX**

Cloud knew exactly what he was looking for. The idea came to mind the day before while the butcher was talking about "finding" the gift versus buying it. He bent over to pick it up, a small trace of a smile on his face. It was perfect, he thought. Hopefully Yuffie didn't think it was stupid or _**– **_

Since when did he care what Yuffie thought? They weren't even in Dera for a real honeymoon. He was just going through the motions so they wouldn't blow their cover. He nodded his head. _Yeah, can't blow the mission._

He twirled the object in a circle between his fingers. Despite all his previous thoughts, he still couldn't help but to hope she didn't think it was lame.

Cloud leaned against the outside wall of Shadow Lodge, placing his hands in his pockets. He already put his gift for Yuffie in a safe place back in their room where he was sure she wouldn't find it. He waited for a good twenty minutes before he noticed Yuffie in the distance, traipsing her way casually back to the lodge.

"Cloudy, didja find me something _good_!" she teased him playfully, punching him lightly in the chest. "Because if you didn't, our _marriage _might start to have some major issues, ya hear?"

He crossed his arms, trying hard not to smirk. "Yuffie, if we were actually married, our marriage would already have more than just a few issues." Cloud rolled his eyes when Yuffie mirrored his actions with her own arms and stomped her foot.

"Geez, I was just kidding. You know…as in a joke? No need to be such a spiky-headed jerk all the time!" She huffed before pounding her way back to their room to take a shower and change for what was sure to be an interesting night for the two of them.

"Who said I wasn't kidding too?" Cloud sighed lightly. "And I never said it would have been a bad thing anyway," he murmured to himself, scratching the back of his head awkwardly as he walked into the inn. Ruby the receptionist winked at him with a wave as he walked by. Reasonably creeped out by the woman, Cloud strode a bit too fast into their room.

What he saw on the bed completely shocked him. "Um, Yuffie? What is this doing in here?"

The ninja popped her head out of the bathroom. Cloud's eyes widened when he realized she was obviously in a towel, even though she only peeked her face out.

She shrugged. "I was wondering the same thing. I smelled too bad to care," she replied pointedly before shutting the bathroom door and starting a shower for herself.

Cloud walked over to the bed, eyes widening as he picked up the beautiful emerald green dress. A note fluttered to the floor, he noticed.

_Y'all will both be needin' a nice outfit fer tonight, I figured. No need to repay me._

_-Kent_

Cloud's eyes widened when he saw a prim and proper suit and tie underneath where the green dress had been lying. Was it weird for him to feel surprised that people in the village of Dera actually wore nice clothes like this? He shrugged to himself, lifting his outfit into the air for silent appraisal. "Whatever. I'll just go with it."

He heard the shower turn off after a good ten minutes or so. Then his hearing sharpened when he heard the unmistakable sound of skin on tile. He reacted before he even knew what he was doing. He barged into the bathroom. "Yuffie, are you oka_**–**_"

"CLOUD, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Yuffie shrieked hysterically from the bathroom floor. She had her towel draped over her middle in a disheveled manner, and Cloud noticed that her face was beet red. "Are you deaf? GET OUT!"

"Oh_**– **_Sorry_**– **_I heard you fall_**–**_" he managed to stammer out as he scratched the back of his head.

"Get. Out," she repeated, her face slowly becoming more of a magenta color. "Please."

Cloud turned tail and fled the scene, clicking the door shut and walking over to sit on the bed. "What just happened?" He face-palmed and was embarrassed to notice that he himself was also blushing.

**XxXxX**

Yuffie hid in the bathroom for as long as she could. When she was sure that she heard Cloud leave for Village Square, and when she was positive that her heart had finally stopped beating in an almost arrhythmic manner, she shakily opened the door and walked over to the bed.

She saw Kent's note on the floor and smiled. "What a nice old geezer. Too bad Cid isn't that nice, even though he's basically just as old," she laughed to herself, "the old asshole." The ninja tried her best to be graceful as she stepped into the dress; she didn't want to rip or damage something that Kent had obviously gone out of his way to let her borrow.

Sighing when she decided she was good to go, she quickly grabbed Cloud's gift and dashed out the door. She hoped she wasn't late or something.

_Nyuk, they don't even have clocks here!_

**XxXxX**

Feeding pure lies to anyone who asked to hear the story of how they met, or how he proposed, Cloud made his way around Village Square. It seemed as though nearly the entire population of Dera was out here tonight…which didn't really count for much. There were maybe two or three-hundred people in all. Not like it bothered Cloud anyway. He was never really much of a crowd person in the first place.

The mercenary grabbed a glass of water from the beverage stand as he wondered for the tenth time when Yuffie was going to decide to show her face.

"Aha! Ther' be the lovely bride o' the fine gentleman," he heard Kent proclaim from a few feet away.

Cloud slowly turned around as he took a sip of water_**– **_He promptly started to choke on his drink when he saw what everyone else was looking at: _Yuffie._ She…she looked unbelievable. He had never seen her wear anything other than her ninja gear, so seeing her in an elegant dress…well, it rendered him speechless, to say the least.

Yuffie slowly made her way over to her "husband," a smirk widening across her cheeks as she got closer and closer. "You okay there, Cam. Too much liquor in that for you to handle?"

Cloud coughed embarrassedly one last time before answering, "It was water."

She crossed her arms and looked at him in surprise. "Then why were you coughing?"

"A gift is meant t' be free," Kent cut in in a loud voice. He was now standing on top of a barrel with a toothless grin on his face. Everyone in Dera was smiling and speaking in hushed tones to each other as they watched Kent happily. "These two newlyweds have reminded us tha' they have given a unique kinda gift to each other: _love._" He clapped his hands together excitedly."Love is patien'. Love is kind…Love is _free._" He looked back and forth from Cloud and Yuffie, who each felt more and more awkward as the old man went on. "Love is an intangible thin', but for us 'ere Derans, we see it clear as day on th' faces o' these two people." Kent's smile widened. "It's m' pleasure to officially start the newlywed tradition'l celebration! Yolanda. Cam. I've spoken o' the intangible love yeh share. Now allow m t' speak o' the tang'ble love."

Cloud blushed crimson and his ears starting to feel warmer. He was too embarrassed to note that Yuffie was blushing furiously as well.

"Tangible love," Kent sighed. "A beautiful thing, really. We see love in the way you look at each oth'r."

Cloud and Yuffie looked at each other in confusion.

"We see love in yer body language," Kent continued as he made a motion with his hands, waving the pair together. They took a step apart from each other as a result. "We see love in th' way yeh look at each oth'r." The 'newlyweds' promptly looked elsewhere. "We see love in yer generosity and gifts t' each other."

Cloud glanced over at Yuffie, who looking down at her foot, fumbling awkwardly with a clod of dirt.

"Cam. Yolanda. Please give…the _gift_," Kent finished with a small smile. There was a twinkle in his eye as he kept looking between the two former Avalanchers.

The blond cleared his throat and walked over to Yuffie. "I guess we have to do this in front of everyone," he murmured to her. She nodded, still looking at the ground. He noticed her cheeks were still dark red. "You want to go fir_**–**_"

"Hereyougo!" Yuffie suddenly blurted out, shoving something in his hand. She crossed her arms and looked back to the ground in embarrassment.

Cloud looked at his palm in confusion. It was a rock. A gray rock. A gray rock that was…shaped…like a chocobo? He let out a laugh. Then a few more. He couldn't help it. He just kept on laughing. "Where did you find this?" Cloud asked in between laughs.

Yuffie looked as though she had never seen Cloud before in her life. "I…er, I tripped over it actually. Don't you dare make fun of that, you spiky-headed j-"

"I wasn't going to," Cloud interrupted with a small smile. "Thank you," he voiced as he placed the rock in his pant pocket.

"And now, Cam's tangible gift to _Yolanda_," Kent narrated from somewhere behind them. He seemed to be moving around ever since he had finished with his overly dramatic speech about love.

"Um," Cloud scratched his head a few times. It was a nervous habit. He couldn't help it. "Uh, here you go." He grabbed the gift that he was secretly proud of.

A white rose.

Yuffie's eyes widened when she looked at it. She made no move to grab it out of his hands.

"Aren't you going to, uh, take it?" Cloud asked awkwardly. Why was she staring at him like that? He wanted to clap in front of her face to snap her out of it, but he figured that wouldn't be a very _loving _thing to do in front of all of these Derans.

"You_**– **_How_**– **__I can't believe you__**–**_" she stammered quietly. Slowly, she reached a hand up to take the beautiful flower from him. "Thank you, Cloud," she whispered, eyes suddenly glassy. "Thank you so much."

He simply nodded in response, not knowing what else to do or to say other than, "You're welcome."

"Thar be it!" Kent shouted happily. "Tangible love in the form of a thoughtless gift. This 'ere be the best newlywed cel'bration we've had for _fifty _years, I'll say!"

**XxXxX **

FORGIVE ME FOR THE HUUUUUUGE DELAY AND **REVIEW**? I HAVE NO IDEA IF THIS IS STILL OKAY SINCE IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME… =(

**THANK YOU FOR READING!**

**I love all of you SO MUCH!**

teaser for next chapter: there's a secret cabin in the woods...yuffie may be in need of some rescuing...a certain redhead pays the dynamic duo a visit...


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